Ghost Slayers
by Relm Wanderer
Summary: A Slayers/Ghostbusters fusion fic! Lina and the gang making a living slaying ghosts in Sailune! This fic is also genre-wise: sci-fi, supernatural, and mystery with a dash of horror, romance and green slime. COMPLETED!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's notes: Though this is a fusion fic that doesn't follow the storyline of The Ghostbusters movies Slimer will be present in the fic in later parts. Also when writing this somehow Filia ended up being a little darker then she would normally be. Well more like a sarcastic temperamental witty dark humoured version. But she's still Filia. Also I should mention though this story does take place in an elseworlds present day type Sailune there is no different race besides humans. So Filia, Xellos, Zelgadis and anyone else that wouldn't otherwise be human or fully human are human in this fic. At present if there are any coupling in this fic it will be Lina/Zelgadis and Gourry/Sylphiel. Maybe Xellos/Filia if I do decide to throw Xellos in. At the moment it's not planned._

**Ghost Slayers **

Chapter One

By Relm

_If there's something strange in your neighbourhood  
Who you gonna call?  
Ghostslayers!  
If there's something weird and it don't look good  
Who you gonna call?  
Ghostslayers!  
I ain't afraid of no ghost_

The rain pattered down the streets of Sailune in a syncopated rhythm colouring the town grey to match the clouds above. It was one of those horrid days where everyone took refuge in buildings and covered areas just avoid the chilling drops. The wind added to the morning misery making it abnormally cold for April.

A petite red haired woman let out a sigh as she stared out of her office window to the grey haze beyond. The mountain of paperwork on her desk beckoned her, but she couldn't help but want to go outside and enjoy the rain. Yes Lina Inverse wasn't your average woman by any standards.

A ringing phone broke Lina from her thoughts screaming to be picked up. Well perhaps not literately, but given how often Lina had dealt with possessed phones one could never be sure.

Lina stared at the little red phone debating what to do. She had been getting real tired of all the prank calls she had gotten already so it was tempting to just unplug the phone. But because most of the paperwork littering her desk was in fact bills it left Lina with very little choice. She had to answer the phone. Tepidly she picked up the phone. "Hello you've reached the Ghost Slayers, how can I help you?"

"_Hi I've got a ghost problem."_

"Okay what seems to be the problem?"

"_I've got a ghost living next to me."_

"Where do you live?" Lina asked already getting out her Sailune street maps.

"_On a dead end! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" _

Lina slammed down the phone. "Grrr… never fails, prank calls on April fools and Halloween. Sometimes I hate this job… If I wasn't so far in debt I'd get caller ID."

The phone started ringing again.

Lina snapped her head to her right to look at the wall clock. It read 11am, she had only been there an hour and this was the tenth call already. "Better not be another pranker…" She sighed once again and answered the phone. "Hello you've reached the Ghost Slayers, how can I help you?"

"_What do you get when you mix a ghost with Bambi?"_ The caller couldn't even contain his laughter.

"Bamboo." Lina said dryly while hanging up the phone. "Stupid idiots!"

"Whose an idiot?" A woman with long dark hair asked as she and another woman with blond hair came into the room.

"Oh just a stupid pranker." Lina rolled her eyes.

"Well it is April first so that's not a surprise. Any calls besides that pranker?" The blond asked picking up some of the unpaid bills on the desk and flipping through them.

"We had nine other calls Filia." Lina held up nine fingers for show.

"Oh really! What kind of jobs are they?" The dark haired woman asked enthusiastically.

"They were all pranks Sylphiel."

Sylphiel sighed. "We haven't had a decent job in weeks. If we don't get some clients soon this business is going to capsize."

"Yup and here's the bills to prove it." Filia darkly chuckled as she placed the bills back on the desk. "Makes me wonder why I ever agreed to work at this crazy place."

"They took away your teaching license for beating up a fellow professor at Sailune University." Lina chided.

"Well that stupid piece of garbage deserved it. If I'd had my way he'd be doing janitorial work." Filia huffed.

"Yeah instead of teaching your class." Lina grinned mischievously.

Filia glared at Lina and stuck her tongue out at her.

"Come on now will you two stop it. That's no way for two friends to act." Sylphiel chided. "We should instead be putting our energy into our work."

"Speaking of work, where the heck is Amelia?" Lina looked back at her wall clock. "She's late."

"We sent her off to get coffee, tea and breakfast." Filia sat herself down in one of the big chairs that occupied the little office.

"Hmmm… I've already had breakfast." Lina mused.

"When has that stopped you from eating before?"

Lina grinned. "Good point."

The phone began ringing again.

"Oh I'll get it!" Sylphiel skipped over to answer the phone.

"Probably just another prank call." Lina rubbed her temples trying to abate the headache that was begin to form.

"Hello you've reached the Ghost Slayers, Sylphiel speaking how can I help you?"

"_Hi I was abducted by a UFO and I think I may be pregnant with an alien baby."_

Now it was Sylphiel's turn to roll her eyes. "I'm sorry sir but I seriously don't think you're pregnant with an alien baby. Have a nice day." Sylphiel hung up the phone. "Ug that was so stupid and it wasn't even original."

"Yeah if I got a dime for every time I got called about alien impregnation I'd have umm… about $20. Sad part is that most of them really think they are pregnant with aliens." Lina flipped through the morning paper.

"We're a ghost extermination business not a kook hotline." Sylphiel grumbled.

"In the eyes of the good people of Sailune, our business is kooky. Who the hell exterminates ghosts? Ghosts don't exist. People who believe in ghosts are crazy. Blah blah blah blah…" Lina rolled her eyes.

Amelia came into the office juggling various brown paper bags and a cardboard tray with coffee. "I'm sorry I'm late Miss Lina!"

"It's okay, Filia and Sylphiel told me what you were doing. We haven't gotten any phone calls today."

"That's terrible!" Amelia put down her stuff and started handing out the food and coffee.

"Amelia did you get me coffee or tea?" Filia asked going through the various steaming cups.

"Coffee. They were out of the tea you like." Amelia handed Filia a cup that contained coffee much to Filia's dismay.

Filia made a face. "Oh well I suppose it can't be helped." She commented with a saddened tone. The morning had been hectic and busy as Filia slept in so she missed both her breakfast and her morning tea. Though tea from Average Joe's Jo coffee house was less then stellar Filia had been willing to settle for it.

"We should get an electric kettle so we can make out own coffee." Sylphiel suggested. "It would save us some money."

Amelia stopped what she was doing and gasped in shock. "We can't make our own coffee here! We'd have to use instant coffee and that's not the same as real coffee house coffee! It's not real coffee! It just wouldn't be as good." Amelia insisted raising her finger to the air striking a confidant pose… on Lina's desk.

"I doubt what we would make would be any worse then what Average Joe's makes." Lina eyed her much burnt smelling coffee before taking a sip. "In fact I'm sure ours would be better… And Amelia get off my desk."

The phone again demanded attention as it rung once more.

Lina grumbled something incoherent while eating a breakfast bagel. "I'm getting real sick of these damned prank calls!" Lina yelled before picking up the offending phone. "What do you want?" She snapped rather rudely to the person on the other end.

"_Hello is this the Ghost Slayers?"_ The female voice on the other end sounded timid and confused.

Lina mentally smacked herself. 'The one time I'm rude it's a real caller!' "Oh yes sorry it is. I didn't mean to snap at you Miss, I've been getting lots of prank calls and it's wearing on my nerves. I'm Lina, what can I help you with?" Lina grabbed her pen and notepad.

The woman on the other end paused. _"I have a problem concerning what I believe to be a ghost."_ She spoke hesitantly.

"Than you called the right place. We deal with all kinds of spectres, from passed relatives refusing to cross over to pesky poltergeists. Why don't you tell me about your situation?" Lina prompted the woman.

"_Well my name is Pearl Norman and I work for Sailune Publishing. Recently this man has been appearing in our building and I think he might be a ghost."_

"Okay Miss Norman, why do you think this man is a ghost?"

"_I hope you're not getting the wrong idea about me. I'm not the kind of person that goes around making up farfetched stories about ghosts and goblins. I'm a very rational level-minded person. I don't even believe in ghosts! I'm not some crazy person."_

"I never implied you were crazy Miss Norman. But I can assure you that ghosts are very real. And if you want my help then I'm going to need all the information you have about this spectre. So what do you know about him?"

"_Well he appears out of no where and walks around silently. He doesn't speak or make any noise nor does he seem to see or hear anyone around him. People have tried to touch him but they go right through him. And he also can walk through things."_

"Okay how often and for how long does he appear?" Lina asked jotting everything down.

"_Usually around 12pm he appears and he's usually still here when we close up around 6pm."_

Lina frowned. "So for 6 hours straight you can see him walking around?"

"_Yes."_

"That's a little strange. Is he affecting anything in the office when he's walking around. Such as moving papers, furniture or writing on the walls?"

"_No all he does is walk around. He's not really doing anything bad but it's hard to work when he's pacing around like he does. In fact we've had several people quit because of him." _

"Hmmm… well it sounds like you have an interesting case there Miss Norman. But don't worry we'll get the bottom of this. My associates and I will be there very soon."

"_Don't you need the building address?"_

"No that's okay. I know where Sailune Publishing is, it's only a couple blocks away from our office. Building number 315 right?"

"_Yes that's right." _

"Okay we'll be there very soon. Bye." Lina hung up the phone.

"We have a job?" Amelia asked excitedly.

"Yup, at Sailune Publishing. Sylphiel get our gear ready." Lina quickly finished off her breakfast.

"Yeah the first case of the day! How exciting!" Amelia cheered with glee walking over to get her gear from Sylphiel.

"Actually Amelia, it sounds like it's a level one grade spectre and I don't think all four of us are necessary." Lina explained.

"But you said the ghost manifests for periods longer then 6 hours. Just the prolonged visual should boost the danger level to three." Filia mused.

"It's not a hostile. Besides we need to have someone here to answer the calls just in case we have another client."

"How do we decide who stays and goes?" Sylphiel placed down the last of the gear.

"I'll pick a number between 1 and 100. Whomever picks the numbers closest to it goes with me." Lina announced.

"How come you get to pick the number and go?" Amelia whined.

"Because I was the first one here this morning and has answered that bloody phone the most! And besides, I'm the boss. So pick numbers!" Lina growled.

"Forty-nine." Sylphiel picked.

"Seventy-five." Filia picked her number.

"Four." Amelia grumbled.

"Sorry Amelia it was fifty-two. Guess you're the lucky one who gets to stay. Have fun." Lina patted Amelia on the back.

Amelia made a face. "Oh yes lucky me."

"See you later Amelia. And remember to callus if we get any more real calls."

Amelia nodded and waved goodbye. She glared at the phone once the others had left. Sure enough as on cue the phone began to ring.

"Hello Ghost Slayers, Amelia speaking how can I help you… no Casper doesn't work here." Amelia Slammed down the phone. 'This is going to be a nice long day…' She thought bitterly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ghost Slayers **

Chapter Two

By Relm

Lina, Sylphiel and Filia went downstairs towards their headquarters parking lot. As Lina started descending a flight of stairs a chunk of drywall fell almost hitting the red head. This very fact did little to amuse the leader of the Ghost Slayers. Instead it left Lina muttering about why she had chosen this building as their headquarters.

Ghost Slayers headquarters was, in fact what used to be an old police station. In its' heyday the building had seen many arrests, convictions and criminals. It had also seen many deaths as strange accidents were a common occurrence at the large three level police station. It could have been the fact that the building had been built over an old gravesite that these accidents happened in frequency. Or it could have been that old woman who put a curse on the lot who the building contractor pissed off when he went to build the police station. But of course she was crazy to begin with so we don't speak of the old woman anymore. So then let's get back to the graveyard.

In order to blame the gravesite as the source of their problems you would have to believe in ghosts first and most of the police officers didn't. Even so the few that were aware of their station was sitting on top of an old graveyard had been informed that all the graves had been relocated before the construction.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

Still no one brought up the subject of ghosts even when officer Marks happened to die from a strong blow to the head from an item that had been bolted to the floor but somehow managed to go airborne and strike him.

But soon enough a new police building was built, rendering the old one unneeded and so the whole department was relocated. And the old police station? Well it had been left to rot.

Though there were a few occasions where building companies had tried to destroy the old police station to build a new building. The ghosts residing in the building retaliated and stopped those companies. And by then the building had gotten the reputation as being haunted so realtors couldn't sell the place.

The last incident before Lina bought the building had been over fifteen years ago and the ghosts residing in the old police station got bored. What was the fun in haunting a building that no one visited? Some of the ghosts left for new places to haunt, while others had crossed over in the after life. A few vigilant spectres remained but they too were on their last spirit legs.

So when Lina had bought the building there had been very little protests from the ghosts. They even welcomed Lina and her friends, as they were remedies to their boredom. Until that is when Lina and her friends had decided to 'slay' the ghosts to test out their new equipment. And for the record the equipment worked very well.

Lina bought the building for one reasons and one reason alone. It had been dirt cheep. Before starting Ghost Slayers Lina had very little cash to play with. No one wanted to invest in her new business so the only funds she had were the ones she had saved up. She couldn't even get a bank loan. (Though that was because she had bad credit but we'll ignore that little fact for now.) So Lina needed a building that was as cheep as she could get. And also the free ghost test subjects were a nice bonus. One would guess the reason for the old police station's poor market value was because of the ghosts it contained. But as it was the real estate agents weren't suppositious (though most would be buyers were), the building was in violation of dozens of safety codes. Nether less she bought the building, and falling drywall was an everyday occurrence.

'I'll start getting the place fixed next month.' Lina told herself all the time. But when next month arrived there was always something else requiring whatever profit Lina had managed to salvage.

At the very bottom of the stairs Lina reached for the knob for the door that lead to the parking lot. As soon as she touched the knob she recoiled. It was covered with a fine film of slime that now stuck to Lina's hand. "Ewww." She muttered unimpressed as she opened the door. In the parking lot she was greeted to the sight of a green floating spectre that lacked legs 'washing' the Ghost Slayers car. Of course the term washing was a tad subjective because the ghost seemed to be covering the car in as much slimy goo as he was soap.

"Slimer." Lina muttered shaking her head while laughing under her breath.

'Slimer' was the only remaining ghost in the old police station. As it was generally accepted that most ghosts with exception of deceased animals, were human in appearance. But Slimer fell in neither category of human and animal spectres. Lina and company had no idea what Slimer had been before it became a ghost. He was green, he had no legs, but he did have eyes, mouth, arms and hands. It looked like what a mutant would like if it became a spectre. It was for that very reason that Lina had spared the little ghost. She had intended to do further research as to what it had been but had came up with no plausible conclusions. So instead Lina kept Slimer around because it wasn't dangerous and at times it could be quite helpful in its' own weird way. Though it did have a tendency to cover things in a slimy good wherever it went. Thus his name. Oh and they decided it was a he, because even though he did on occasion like to dress up in dresses and flower hats he didn't like to be called a 'she'.

"Well Slimer it's nice to see that you're washing the car. Thank you very much that's very kind of you. But we need to use it so could you please rinse it off please?" Lina asked with a small grin.

Slimer cooed as he floated over to the hose and proceeded to wash the soap and slime from the car. Funny thing about Slimer's slime, it seemed to bond to dirt. And when rinsed down with water the slime washed off easily taking all the dirt and muck with it, leaving surfaces sparkling. As was the case with the Ghost Slayersmobile. It sparkled like it was made of diamonds. Well navy blue diamonds, seeing how the car was navy blue to begin with.

"Thank you very much Slimer. Now why don't you go upstairs and keep Amelia company. There's donuts."

Slimer didn't need any further encouragement. He flew right through the ceiling leaving goo in his wake.

"You know if we could market his goo as a cleaning solvent we're be rich." Filia observed looking at the sparkly clean car.

"Yes but it would be real hard to bottle it." Lina cleaned off the goo from her hand.

"I'm curious as to why Slimer would bother to use the door to come down here but then just fly through the ceiling to leave." Sylphiel wondered out loud as another glob of the goo fell from the ceiling to the puddle on the floor.

"When it comes to donuts Slimer can't be bothered with such trivial things as doors." Lina said with a laugh.

"But ghosts don't eat food either. Why would Slimer be so crazy over something that he doesn't need?"

"I gave up trying to figure him out a long time ago." Again Lina laughed. "Anyway all fun aside let's get going." She said while getting into the driver's seat of the Ghost Slayermobile.

The Ghost Slayersmobile was really just an old hearse that had been painted navy blue with racing stripes and the Ghost Slayers logo. In fact that very car also had a history with ghosts before Lina purchased it. But of course it's not as interesting as the police station story and it's just as long. And well since you all suffered through the police station story already how about we just skip the explanation for now and get on with the rest of the story? Unless of course you want me to explain it but I'm tried and I don't feel like it. Let's just say it was dirt cheep too. There are you happy now?

Even though Sailune Publishing was within walking distance and not far enough to warrant the use of the car, Lina still drove the car anyway. The equipment they had in the car and their own personal ones were heavy and cumbersome to transport. So it was just easier to bring it all in the car.

The street was busy with traffic. Everyone had some place they wanted to be and wanted to be now. Everyone was in a rush and everyone was irritable. Especially Lina, even though she was driving only a couple blocks away. But it wasn't the actual driving that was bothering Lina. It was the parking. Parking a big boat of a car on such a busy street for most would be stressful and worth parking on a side street. But Lina wasn't one to shy away from a challenge. So she parked in the only available spot by Sailune Publishing causing over drivers around her to honk, make rude hand gestures, and swear. And honk, make rude hand gestures, and swear back is exactly what Lina did. Not the most professional behaviour from an owner of a business but Lina didn't care.

Sailune Publishing was rather busy with lots of people chatting, typing and pushing paper. It was so busy that no one paid attention to Lina, Sylphiel and Filia as they walked in wearing their dark blue jumpsuits and various technical stuff packed onto their backs. Or at least for the first minute.

"Hey where can I find Miss Norman?" Lina said very loudly stopping everyone in the room from doing what they are doing.

No one said anything for a while, they just stared blankly at Lina, Filia and Sylphiel like they were aliens.

Finally a small timid woman with brown hair and glasses spoke up. "I'm Pearl Norman." Her voice was as timid as her appearance. "You must be the people from the Ghost Slayers."

"Yes that would be us. I'm Lina, this is Sylphiel and this is Filia." Lina introduced herself and her friends. "So perhaps we should get down to work. Show us where the spectre appears and where he goes."

Pearl Norman led the Ghost Slayers trio over to a back supply room on the second floor.

"So this is where he appears?" Lina asked while taking some readings.

"Sometimes he does yes." Miss Norman nodded her head.

Lina stopped and looked at the woman. "Sometimes?"

"Yes that's right."

"Where does he appear on other occasions?" Lina took out a notepad and started writing notes.

"Well I guess he likes to appear in the break room a lot. And the washrooms. And the maintenance room. Oh and the conference room too."

Lina looked at her sceptically. "So what you're basically saying is that he shows up just about anywhere."

Miss Norman hesitantly nodded her head.

"Okay where was the last time he appeared?"

"In this room."

"Filia, Sylphiel start doing some scans." Lina ordered while checking her wristwatch. It read 11:50am. 'Got ten minutes before he shows up.' "Does he ever show up in the same spot more then once a week?"

"Oh sure. Sometimes he'll show up in the same room like ten times before he changes to a different room. Though it is somewhat random."

Lina frowned. The more and more she heard of this ghost the more she was beginning to wonder. "Any interesting readings so far?"

Filia nodded. "Yeah right here it seems to be a hot spot."

"Really you're getting a real good spectre reading?"

Filia shook her head. "No I'm not, this spot right here is hot, the temperature in the room seems to be rising and the heat is being sourced from there. There isn't by chance a heating system under this floor that's active?"

Miss Norman bit her bottom lip in confusion. "Why no there isn't one that I know off."

"Well the temperature is rising."

"Is that the ghost?" Miss Norman asked timidly.

"No." Lina answered. "As a rule ghosts have no heat to give off. They're dead and have no physical bodies to radiate thermal energy. In fact they need to absorb the surrounding heat just to become visible. Which is why it will get real cold all of a sudden if there's a ghost in the room." She explained.

Just as Lina spoke a man with blue lavender hair and deep blue eyes appeared. He wore glasses and a grey suit and held a black briefcase in his hand. And like most ghosts Lina had encountered, the man seemed to be transparent. He didn't pay any attention to Lina or anyone else in the room; he just stared forward into space.

"The readings are off the charts Lina!" Filia exclaimed.

"But it doesn't seem cold in here. Maybe the machine is busted." Sylphiel suggested turning her own scanner on the apparition.

"No they're not broken. They just can't read the high temperatures. They're meant to read low temps after all."

Miss Norman looked around confused. "So this thing is giving off heat? I thought you said ghosts don't do that."

"They don't. This isn't theoretically supposed to happen." Lina muttered confused as well.

Just as Lina had spoken the 'ghost' turned his face to look Lina straight in the eyes. That was something that this thing had never done before. And he did something else just as strange, he smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

Ghost Slayers Chapter Three

By Relm

Lina's eyes widened slightly. A part of her was sure that she was imagining the smile of the ghost's face. It wasn't a menacing smile; it was just a small happy one. Though Lina didn't have long to ponder this as the ghost wandered off.

The ghost in all intensive purposes looked like he belonged in the publishing office. Had he not been a ghost that is.

Lina, Sylphiel and Filia were hot on the ghost's trail noting anything strange. Normally a ghost walking around an office would be strange but not to the Ghost Slayers.

"Lina I'm getting massive thermal readings from the ghost." Sylphiel said while reading her scanner while walking, and almost walking into a desk.

"How massive?"

"The scanner is reading his thermal energy as if he was alive. In fact the scanner is having troubles telling the difference between him and other people in the building."

The question of this 'spectre' really being just a person pulling an awesome prank bounced around Lina's head. It was, April Fools after all. Of course it didn't matter how resourceful the pranker, living people can't walk right through walls. Which the ghost did and caused Lina to crash into said wall. "Ouch! Damnit." Lina cursed rubbing her now sore face. "What's on the other side of this wall?"

"Umm… it's our boardroom I think." Miss Norman guessed.

"Where's the door?"

"Down this way."

Miss Norman led them to the door. The room was large with a big table, chairs and a screen with a projector. Had an actual meeting been occurring in that room at that moment those attending would have been surprised at the sudden appearance of a ghost walking through their table. But as it was there was no meetings scheduled in that room till two o'clock.

"Where did he go?" Lina scanned the room.

"There!" Sylphiel pointed to the ghost as he walked through another wall.

"What's on the other side of that wall?"

Thus the chase began. The four of them followed the ghost through the whole building. They followed him through the break room, the washrooms, printer room, the administration offices, the roof, and the underground parking lot. They followed that ghost everywhere. The only time the ghost stopped was to get a cup of coffee. Which was strange since he was reaching out to thin air and all of a sudden a steaming cup of transparent coffee appeared in his hands.

Eventually the four lost sight of the ghost unable to figure out in what direction he might have gone.

"Can't you find him with your scanner things?" Miss Norman said impatiently. She hadn't expected for the Ghost Slayers to take so long getting rid of the ghost.

"No we can't. Our scanners are meant to locate absence of thermal energy, not an abundance of it. The scanners have no way of telling the difference between our subject and living people. As far as our scanner is concerned he's alive and not a ghost." Sylphiel explained in exasperation.

"But he is a ghost." Miss Norman insisted.

"You know I can't say that for certain Miss Norman." Lina answered tapping her chin in thought.

"What do you mean you can't say that for certain? He walks through walls and people! Only dead people can do that!" Miss Norman stomped her foot to emphasize her point.

"I know that Miss Norman. But what we're dealing with here is something that I've never seen nor have I read being documented. Ghosts draw out the thermal energies in the surroundings to move about. They never give off thermal energy as a rule. And there are other characteristics that are a bit off too." Lina mused.

"Like what?"

"Well ghosts usually move things around or react to their surroundings. This ghost seems oblivious to what was going around him and things materialized for him. It was though we weren't watching a ghost haunting a building but more of a residual imprint left within the building."

"A what?" Miss Norman was clearly getting lost and her facial expression expressed just that.

"A residual imprint," Filia started to explain, "is not an actual ghost haunting an area. It's more of an impression left by a ghost. Like for instances a woman is murdered in a house. And years later a family moves into this house and notices that every day at a certain time they see a woman dying in their living room. It's the same thing every time. It's not a ghost but a loop in time where a certain event is being viewed over and over again even though it happened years prior. The people involved in the event are dead and you can't touch them so they seem like ghosts but they're not."

Lina sighed. "Though even that has problems explaining what's going on here. You said that this didn't start happening till recently?"

Miss Norman nodded.

"Well with a residual imprint they don't just start up out of nowhere. If there was something shady that happened in this building's past then you would have known about it from the day the building was built or when the event occurred. But as you saw the 'ghost' did nothing more then walk around. There is no indication that anything bad happened to him, and I personally don't remember reading anything about his 'death' in the area. And believe me when I started up Ghost Slayers and bought my base of operations I did heavy research of the neighbourhood. I wanted to know about every possible ghost there could be in the area. I found nothing about any deaths that happened in this building before or after it became Sailune Publishing. And even if this was a residual imprint he wouldn't be giving off thermal energy." Lina sighed again.

"Well can't you just zap it anyway?" Miss Norman really didn't care less about what they did as long as they got rid of the ghost.

"If it's not a ghost something unexpected could happen if we try and 'zap' it. Even so we need to find him first. We can't get a clear shot if he's speeding off every time we get close to him." Lina personally was starting to get irritated. This seemingly simple job was turning into a big problem then Lina anticipated.

"Hey Pearl the guy is outside on the bench in front of the building!" A co-worker of Miss Norman explained looking out the window.

Within mere seconds the Ghost Slayers trio and Miss Norman were outside to confront the ghost.

The ghost seemed to be quite content sitting and reading his newspaper. The newspaper in question happened to be the Sailune Times… from nine months ago.

Lina frowned as she looked at the newspaper date. 'This doesn't seem right.' Her gut was telling her something was wrong here.

"Well go on zap him!" Miss Norman encouraged them waving her hands in impatience.

"Lina what should we do?"

Lina bit her lip in thought. "Let's just try it. We're running out of options and we don't have time to sit around and study him."

Filia nodded and got the spectre containment box ready while Lina charged up her phase gun.

Sylphiel looked around worried but she also got her phase gun charged.

"Fire!" Lina commanded shooting her gun on the ghost, as did Sylphiel.

A first the ghost didn't seem to react. Then it howled as the rays from the guns were being sucked into the specter containment box and the ghost disappeared.

"Well thank goodness that's over! Now if you'll just come with me I'll write up your check." Miss Norman motioned for them to follow her.

"Lina." Filia whispered. "The box isn't showing that it's holding something."

"I know." Lina whispered back. "We didn't catch the thing."

"So what are we going to do?" Sylphiel joined in with the whispering.

"Take the money and cash the check. If the ghost comes back we'll just deal with it then."

"Lina we can't do that!"

"Sure we can. And we can do some research in the mean time. Maybe we can get some answers before it pops up again."

Sylphiel frowned but didn't protest it any further.

Lina hummed slightly as she walked out of the Sailune Publishing building with Sylphiel and Filia. In Lina's hand she held a very large check made out to the Ghost Slayers. It was more money then Lina got in a month of ghost slaying jobs so she was pretty pleased with herself. Of course after accepting the check Lina had made sure that Miss Norman got her business card and instructed her to call her if there's any more problems.

Filia was also in a cheery mood. She too had been equally delighted at the amount of money they had been paid.

Sylphiel was the only one not happy with the situation. She didn't like taking money for a half done job.

The sun was brightly shining in the sky now as the storm had lifted leaving the day nice and cheerful.

"Ahhh! Isn't it lovely outside?" Lina asked ginning and doing a little twirl.

"Yes it's surprising how quickly the weather changed." Filia mused.

"I still think we shouldn't have taken the money." Sylphiel mumbled.

"Don't worry it will all be fine Sylphiel."

"If Amelia had been here we wouldn't have taken it you know." Sylphiel frowned.

"Yes which is good that I made her stay back at the office. Now let's get... hey what's that still doing there?" Lina walked over to the bench where the ghost had been sitting. On the ground was the very newspaper that the spectre had been reading.

"It's solid." Sylphiel said in amazement.

"That shouldn't be here now should you be able to touch it Lina." Filia observed.

"I think we should take it back to Ghost Slayers HQ and look it over more carefully." Lina observed putting the paper in a plastic bag. "As I was saying, let's get back to the office."

They all took their respective seats in the car and Lina adjusted the mirrors before starting up the engine. And sitting in the back seat Lina saw the very ghost they had just 'zapped' sitting back staring at her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ghost Slayers**

**Chapter Four**

By Relm

In a normal situation finding an unexpected person in the reflection of your review mirror would be cause for alarm. And if that person whom was now taking residence in the back seat of your car was in fact a ghost that would be greater cause for alarm. But this wasn't the first time Lina found an unexpected visitor sitting in the back seat of her car. So seeing this so called ghost sitting rather leisurely in the back seat didn't make Lina scream in terror.

Lina just flinched.

Sylphiel on the other hand screamed. But then she was sitting in the seat next to the ghost. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What the hell is he doing here?"

"Calm down Sylphiel!" Lina yelled.

"Looks like he wants to come along for the ride." Filia joked.

"Well what do we do?" Sylphiel was panicking slightly. She had dealt with several ghosts in her career as a ghost slayer but she wasn't normally boxed in with one. And ghosts tended to be unpredictable as it was so you never knew what was going to happen.

"We take him with us. You were the one that was so concerned about us taking the money for an unfinished job. Well this way we ensure that the ghost doesn't come back and haunt Sailune Publishing again. And maybe we can do some research to find out who he is." Lina rationalized paying her attention back onto the road.

Though Sylphiel was still distressed she didn't say anything more of the subject.

The ghost however didn't seem to pay much attention to them at all. Instead he choose to just sit back and read another newly materialized newspaper.

...

The ride back to Ghost Slayers HQ proved to be eventless and Lina parked the car in the massive parking lot. Given the large size of the old police station parking lot it was rather comical that only five cars were occupying spaces.

Lina, Sylphiel and Filia all got out the car taking their packs with them. The ghost however seemed to be far too engrossed in his paper to move from the car seat. It was probable that he didn't even notice that the car had stopped moving in the first place.

"Lina what are we going to do?" Sylphiel frowned. One can't do research and tests on a subject if the subject can't be taken to the lab.

"Yeah it's not like w can just grab him and haul him upstairs." Filia chuckled darkly.

Lina rolled her eyes. Filia's constant dark humoured jokes were starting to get on her nerves. "Hey you… Mister Ghost!" Lina went to 'tap' him on the shoulder.

The ghost instantly acknowledged Lina's presence and smiled.

"Hi, we're going upstairs. We want you to come with us." Lina tried to convey her message with hand gestures hoping he'd understand that if he couldn't hear her.

Either way the ghost seemed to understand Lina and he got out of the car with his newspaper tucked under his arm.

"Good. Now follow us."

For the most part the ghost followed the three ghost slayers. There were only a few instances where they lost sight of him. That was due to the fact that the ghost seemed to prefer going through the walls instead of doors.

In the main office Amelia sat bored but the phone. She was aimlessly flipping through some fashion magazine that didn't seem to hold much of the girl's interest.

Slimer was also in the office with Amelia. Slimer was 'sitting' at a table doing a crossword puzzle. Well trying to do a crossword puzzle. He wasn't so much as working on the puzzle as he was covered the paper in slime and writing with a slime covered pen.

"Oh you're back!" Amelia explained jumping up from her seat. "How did it go? Did you…" She trailed off when she noticed the person walking in behind Lina. "Hey who's that with you?" Amelia looked sideways at the new spectre.

"Don't know yet." Lina plopped her stuff down. "But I hope to find out soon enough."

"Hey he's a ghost!" Amelia observed finally noticing that the man was transparent and she could see through him to the wall that was behind him.

"Well I'm not quite so sure of that. He can go through walls and as you can see he's transparent like one. However those are the only ghostly things about him." Filia cryptically explained.

"What Filia is trying to say is Amelia that this um… 'spectre' gives off thermal energy instead of absorbing it. And his behavioural patterns a little strange for a ghost. And he didn't seem to be affected all that much by our guns." Sylphiel explained further for their youngest Ghost Slayer.

"So you just decided to bring him here?" Amelia's eyes widened. Having normal ghosts in the building Amelia could deal with. But having strange things that were like ghosts but weren't in the building did creep her out a bit.

"Not really. Would you believe he followed us home?" Lina said sheepishly. "Because he did. After we left with the money we just found him in the car."

Amelia looked at her 'boss' with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean after you left with the money?"

"Well she paid us for the job and then we left."

"What job? Miss Sylphiel just said that the guns didn't work on him."

"Yeah instead of forcing him into one of our containment boxes he just vanished."

"He vanished? You had to have known that he was still around though right? Our guns only stun the spectres, not kill them."

"Well technically ghosts are already dead so you can't really kill them again." Lina rubbed the back of her neck while sprouting a sweatdrop.

"You know what I mean. What I'm saying is you all knew that you hadn't dealt with the problem but you took payment from Sailune Publishing anyway? I can't believe that!"

"Well we did take him home with us." Filia interjected.

"You didn't know you would be when you took the money though! That's dishonest Miss Lina! You can't just take people's money like that when you didn't even do what you were being paid to do! What were you going to do if he showed up again? Go back and charge them more money to not deal with the problem again?" Amelia chided waving her finger in the air. Though one should take a person seriously when they are that angry but it was hard to do so. Especially when Slimer was standing adjacent to Amelia mocking every movement she made.

Lina stifled a giggle.

"Why are you laughing for? This is not funny!" Amelia protested waving her arms in the air. It was then that she noticed that Slimer was doing the same thing she was. "Slimer! Stop that!" Amelia stopped her foot.

Slimer looked down and floated back the table with his crossword puzzle.

"Now Amelia we wouldn't have charged them again. If the ghost did show up we would have gone back and dealt with him for free. And we were going to come back and do research anyway to find out about him. So that if he did come back then we'd have a better idea of what to do with the situation." Lina said in her defence.

Amelia frowned in thought. "Alright fine I won't get angry anymore. Though I'm still not happy with what you did. And I'm disappointed in you Miss Sylphiel for letting Miss Lina and Miss Filia just take the money like that."

"I tried to stop them!" Sylphiel protested. "They wouldn't listen to me!"

"Okay. So… how much did you get?" Amelia grinned with greed in her eyes.

The three older ghost slayers facefaulted.

"You were just preaching about not taking the money and now you want to know how much we got?" Lina exclaimed.

"Yeah so you brought him here so the job's done for the most part. So how much did you get?"

Lina handed Amelia the check to look at.

Amelia's eyes bugged out. "That's a lot of money for a simple ghost extermination…"

"That's why I love doing jobs for mega funded establishments. They always pay ridiculously high. Mostly just so that you won't go bragging around that you did a ghost slaying job for them. Big companies don't like their reputation marred by their beliefs in the supernatural." Lina sat back herself down in her chair and stretched.

The new 'ghost' looked at Slimer curiously. Perhaps this 'ghost' had never seen another ghost before, or it was perhaps Slimer's green color that seemed to cause the new 'ghost' to look so confused.

Slimer showed equal interest in the new visitor to Ghost Slayers HQ. But by the grin on his face you could tell he was up to something mischievous. He floated over to the new ghost still grinning. With slobber ready he went flying at the new ghost with arms outstretched.

The new ghost looked at Slimer with obvious fear in his eyes. In fact any person whom didn't know Slimer would be scared about a flying, drooling green torso, head and arms coming flying at you. To those that knew Slimer, this is what he did with all new arrivals, he went to hug them. Now with the living ghosts go through them, unless the ghost concentrated real hard. But if one ghost goes to touch another ghost then they can touch them quite easily. So whenever a new ghost came to the building Slimer instantly wanted to make friends. Which his way of doing so was to give the new ghost a big sloppy gooey hug. Most of the time the ghosts were frightened by this and would actually leave the building. That was in fact how they managed to get the ghost haunting the Ghost Slayermobile to leave. [See I told you it wasn't an interesting story.] In this case however Slimer didn't actually hug the new ghost. Instead Slimer went right through him leaving a nice splatter of goo on the new ghost's clothing.

Slimer looked around confused. He had been expecting to hug his new friend but instead found himself floating in front of the wall. He turned around and tried it again. And again Slimer went right through the new ghost leaving more goo. And he tried it two more times before giving up.

The new ghost shook off some of the goo from himself not looking quite too pleased. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound emerged from his lips. But if you were quite good at reading lips you would have noticed that the ghost was making a complaint about having to take his suit to the drycleaners.

"Slimer went right through him." Amelia said pointing. "Slimer can touch other ghosts but he can't touch that one. That's not right."

"I know which is why we need to find out who this guy is and how he died." Lina said in commanding authority. "Alright Amelia I want you to look up some records on the net. I want the newspaper listings for all the people that have died in the past nine months."

"Nine months? Shouldn't I be looking farther back then that?" Amelia frowned as she sat down at the computer.

"He had a paper with him. The Sailune Times dated July 1st of last year. I'm sure that's a paper he had either before he died or when he died. He's able to make them materialize out of thin air. Right now it's the only connection I have. If that doesn't pan up with anything then we can look farther back. For now just stick with those search parameters."

"Okay." Amelia started to work.

"Filia I want you to take our new friend here to do some basic tests on him. Nothing too threatening, I don't want him to run off. And Sylphiel go analyze the newspaper we have. Check its properties and see if there is anything strange about it. Oh and make sure to read it to see if there's any relevant articles to our ghost friend."

"What are you going to do Lina?"

"I'm going to make some calls. I'm going to see if any of my old colleagues have heard of a ghost like ours." Lina pulled out her cell phone and began dialling.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ghost Slayers**

**Chapter Five**

By Relm

"No I'm not the only one seeing him." Lina said exasperatedly on the phone. "Yes I know group hallucinations are probable but that's not what's going on here!" Lina hung the phone angrily. "Argh! This is getting annoying!"

"Not having much luck are you?" Amelia observed out loud not looking away from the computer.

"No I'm not. The only good suggestion I've gotten was that maybe our friend is stuck in a temporal loop. But my high school physics teacher didn't know how we could test for that." Lina rubbed her temples gingerly hoping to ebb some of the pain pounding away in her head.

"You called your high school physics teacher?"

"Yeah well he was a very good teacher. How's the search coming?" Lina asked changing the subject.

Amelia frowned. "Not well. Couldn't find anyone that resembles our subject that's died."

"Hey wait those are the missing reports you're looking at." Lina observed looking over Amelia's shoulder.

"Well I figured I'd give that a try before I check older death records." Amelia explained.

"Good idea. Call me if you find anything okay?"

"Where are you going?"

"Going to see how Sylphiel and Filia are doing."

"Okay. Bye Miss Lina."

"Bye Amelia." Lina walked down the old dusty halls of the old police building turned Ghost Slayers base of operations. Another piece of drywall fell from the ceiling and just missed Lina. Lina looked back to the newly fallen piece noting its size. She also noticed a big glob of slime right by it on the floor. A sidewise glance revealed that Slimer was floating right next to Lina on the right. "Decided to go for a 'walk' eh Slimer?"

Slimer grinned nodding his head eagerly.

Lina chucked at the ghost's enthusiasm. She came up to a door at the end of the hall that was simply marked with a taped up piece of paper that read 'Lab B'. The door creaked loudly as Lina turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Inside the room Sylphiel sat on a stool while analyzing the newspaper.

"How's it coming with the paper?" Lina asked.

"Well I analyzed a sample of the paper and compared it to a sample of today's Sailune Times."

"And what did you find out?"

"This sample has the same composition as the other sample. As near as I can tell they are both standard newspaper paper." Sylphiel said sighing and taking off her reading glasses.

"Well what about the articles? Anything special?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "Nothing especially relevant. I did a comparison with what I could find on the Sailune Times website. From what I've read it doesn't seem like any of the articles are different. Though I really should go do a check at the library to be sure."

"Okay what about residual residue? Did you get any readings?"

Sylphiel shook her head yet again. "Sorry Lina, the scanners came up with nothing."

Lina frowned. This was turning into a very complicated mystery.

Slimer was not paying any attention to what Lina and Sylphiel were talking about. He was quite busy trying to see just how many petri dishes he could stuff in his mouth. At the moment he was at eleven.

"Has Filia told you anything about her experiments?"

"No. She hasn't even left Lab A at all."

"Well I guess I'll go see if Filia has made any progress."

"Okay I'll do another check on the paper to see if there are any differences in the ink." Sylphiel went to get more samples to look at when she noticed all of her petri dishes had vanished. "Hey where did all my dishes go?" She looked around in confusion.

Slimer turned around and flashed Sylphiel a large toothy grin. Well it would have been toothy if he didn't have fourteen petri dishes stuffed in his mouth.

"Slimer!" Sylphiel tried to use her best scolding voice on Slimer, but the sight of the green ghost's mouth stuffed with petri dishes was quite comical. So Sylphiel ended up giggling instead. "Get those out of your mouth! I need those!"

Slimer spat them out and looked down at the floor out of guilt.

"C'mon Slimer. Let's leave Sylphiel to work." Lina ushered the little ghost out of Lab B.

"Bye Lina! Bye Slimer!" Sylphiel waved goodbye.

"You'd better not go stick stuff in your mouth when we go see Filia." Lina advised Slimer as they walked back to the hall and towards Lab A.

Slimer nodded eagerly, but by the blank expression on his fact it was doubtful he was even listening to Lina.

In the next lab over Filia was working very hard on her assignment. Though the sight of Filia jolting her subject with various voltages of electrical current wasn't exactly what Lina had expected to see.

"Filia?" Lina exclaimed in 'shock' "I said minor tests! Not try and electrocute him!"

Filia shrugged. "Well I did all the minor tests already. According to our instruments he's alive and not a ghost."

"So that makes it okay to electrify him?"

Filia rolled her eyes. "You're over reacting. I'm not using really high voltages here. He can get of the way if it's bothering him. But he's being a perfect subject and staying still."

"Okay but what prompted this series of tests?"

"Well until we 'zapped' him with our guns he was stuck in a sort of loop. Afterwards he followed us to our car. So I wonder what sort of reaction I could get out of him with different current levels of electricity."

"And what results have you had?"

"Well take a look." Filia threw a pencil at the ghost. As expected the pencil went right through him. Though the ghost did try and catch it, but it wasn't able. "Now with a low level of electrical current running through him." Filia turned on her machine and gave the ghost a very minor shock. She threw a pencil at the ghost again but this time he caught it. "And now without the current." Filia turned off the generator. For a couple moments the ghost still held onto the pencil. But moments later the pencil went right through his hand and fell to the ground.

"Wow it's like electricity gives him temporary physical capabilities." Lina mused out loud.

"Yeah and the higher the voltage the longer he can touch things. But it seems to bother him at a certain voltage. He flinches like a person being lightly shocked. And that voltage is what would make any living person flinch." Filia explained.

"You have been shocking him with anything higher than that, have you?"

Filia shook her head. "No I'm keeping within safe levels. If I go higher I'll do it gradually and after I know more about our subject."

"Okay good well I-" Lina didn't finish her sentence as her cell phone started to ring. Curiously Lina answered it. "Hell, Lina Inverse speaking."

"_Miss Lina, it's me Amelia."_

"Oh hey. Did you find out who our guy is?"

"_Yes I did. Did you want me to tell you over the phone or did you want to come back see the article for yourself?"_

"I'll come back and I'll bring Sylphiel and Filia with me. They could both use breaks."

"_Okay see you in a couple minutes."_

"Bye."

"Amelia found out who he is?" Filia asked trying to find the pencils that fell to the floor.

"Yeah she did. We're going to go get Sylphiel to find out who our guy is together. Unless of course you have some experiment running that you need to stay for."

Filia shook her head. "No. I'm good to go anytime."

"Okay then, but why are you on your hands and knees on the floor?"

"I want to get all the pencils I threw at our subject. Wouldn't want someone to slip on any of them. But of course I'm having trouble finding them."

Lina frowned. "I think I might have an idea where they are." She said dryly.

"Where?" Filia asked getting up

Lina didn't answer, instead she just pointed at Slimer whose back was facing them.

"Slimer?" Filia frowned not quite understanding what Lina was implying.

Slimer turned around and smiled a rather 'penciled' grin.

Lina shook her head. "What is it with you and sticking things in your mouth today?"

"What else has he been cramming in his mouth?"

"Like fifteen petri dishes."

Slimer held up four fingers in protest.

"Sorry fourteen petri dishes." Lina corrected herself. "Spit them out little green man."

Slimer did as told and the pencils landed on Filia's table in a big green gooey heap.

"That's gross. Looks like we're going to have to restock up on pencils." Filia commented. Washing petri dishes was fine but washing pencils was a bit questionable. Well it could probably be done but Filia wasn't all that enthusiastic about using writing utensils that had at one point taken residence in a green ghost with bad breath's mouth.

"As if we don't have enough expenses." Lina said while sighing. "Anyway let's go get Sylphiel."

...

Sylphiel leaned back slightly on her stool as she stretched. Her eyes were starting to hurt from reading articles and analyzing data. 'Maybe I should go get my eyes checked. I'm probably due for another prescription.' She thought as she put back on her glasses.

"Hey Sylphiel!" Lina yelled opening the door very quickly.

"AHHHHH!" Sylphiel jumped and fell off the stool and landed hard on the tile floor. "Ouch!"

"Whoops! Sorry Sylphiel." Lina smiled sheepishly from the doorway.

"I'm okay. A bruised butt is probably the worst of my injuries." Sylphiel commented while regaining her composure.

"Good. You're taking a break now. Come with us to go see Amelia. She found out who our ghost is." Lina ordered while retreating back to the hall.

When Sylphiel got to the hall Lina was already sprinting off towards their office.

"Hey Filia!" Sylphiel yelled trying to catch up. "You'll never guess what Slimer did earlier!"

"He stuffed fourteen petri dishes in his mouth."

Sylphiel frowned. "Hey! Lina told you!"

"Yeah well he stuffed a whole pack of pencils in his mouth in my lab."

"Will you two please get a move on! I could walk the hall four times over at the speed you two are going." Lina said rather huffily with Slimer imitating her.

"Wow she's impatient." Sylphiel observed. "Where's our ghost anyway?"

Filia pointed to Sylphiel's right.

Sylphiel looked over and yelped. "Eeeep! Why does he keep doing that to me?" She commented on the fact that the ghost was walking in pace with her on her right.

"Maybe he likes you." Filia joked.

"Or maybe he just wants to stay away from you after you shock tortured him." Lina said while grinning evilly.

"You did what to him?" Sylphiel's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Never mind what she says. You like me don't you Mr. Ghost?" Filia called out to the ghost.

The ghost wasn't paying attention. He seemed to be more interested in Lina and where she was going rather than the other people around him.

Lina's evil grinned intensified.

"Okay laugh it up. In fact you can have him Lina. I hope you and him have beautiful ghost children together." Filia stuck her tongue out at her.

"He's cute. If he was alive I'd date him." Lina mused.

...

In the office Amelia was taking a call while writing down information. "… okay then we'll come by tomorrow around 6pm. Thanks for calling Ghost Slayers, bye!"

"Oooooh! We got another case?" Lina clapped her hands excitedly.

Amelia nodded. "Yup looks like your standard old house haunting. Nothing serious just things moving, occasional whispers, lights flickering on and off. That sort of thing."

"Any visuals?"

"Nope. No one has seen the ghost."

"Why do we have to wait until tomorrow?" Sylphiel wondered.

"They weren't calling from town. They should get back tomorrow morning. It was just the most convenient time for them."

"Okay that's nice, let's see the computer!" Lina went over to the computer screen.

"Alright I found him in the missing person's file. He was reported missing about nine months ago by his employer. He worked for the Sailune City Library. His boss reported him missing when he missed a couple shifts." Amelia summarized for them as she scrolled up so that they could see his picture. "His name is Zelgadis Greywars."


	6. Chapter 6

**Ghost Slayers **

**Chapter Six**

By Relm

"Zelgadis Greywars? What else do you have on him?" Lina asked while frowning. Looking at 'Zelgadis' Lina was sure that she didn't know him. But the name struck a chord in the back of her mind. 'Maybe I read about him in the newspaper a while back.'

"Not much. He's not married and according to this he might not have any immediate family. Nobody knows what happened to him, he just disappeared one day." Amelia explained.

"No leads at all?" Lina's frown creased further.

"Nothing according to this. But then this isn't exactly a detailed report on his case. This is just a Sailune City community site. All the stuff is going to be general anyway. If you really want to know the assorted details you'd have to ask the police. And they don't give out details to anyone."

"Unless of course you have a friend in the police. Or a guy who's completely in love with you that works there." Filia commented out loud while grinning at Sylphiel.

Sylphiel blushed. "Gourry is not in love with me Filia! And even if he was I couldn't just call him to get information. He would lose his job!" She protested.

"Not if you let him know it's for a case of ours. Officer Gaberieve is a big supporter of Ghost Slayers." Lina pointed out.

"Well you know Lina I think he supports our company not because of what we do but who you employ." Filia nudged Sylphiel in the side grinning mischievously.

"Cut that out Filia!" Lina scolded the blond woman. "We've help him clear up a couple of his cases so I'm sure that's why he's supportive. But seriously Sylphiel why don't you give him a call? At the very worst he could just end up saying no."

Sylphiel frowned. "Well I could try. But I'm not going to pressure him for more information then he's willing to give." She insisted picking up the phone and dialling.

"Fair enough Sylphiel."

Sylphiel held the phone up to her ear and waited for someone to pick up on the other end.

"_Hello Sailune Police. How can I help you?"_

"Hi this is Sylphiel Nels Rada. I was wondering if I could talk with officer Gaberieve if he's available?" Sylphiel asked nervously.

"_One moment please. I'll put you through."_

"Thank you."

"_Hello? This is officer Gaberieve." _

"Hi Gourry, it's Sylphiel."

"_S-ylphiel? Wow this is nice… you calling me at work I mean. I was so bored. Zangulus has stuck me with all the paperwork even though he knows it makes my head spin. And boy is it spinning Why I-"_

"Um Gourry?" Sylphiel interpreted him unable to control her grin. Gourry wasn't the brightest of fellows but he had a good heart and was a good worker. But strangely whenever Sylphiel was around he couldn't stop rambling on and on.

"_Oh sorry. Got carried away again huh? So what can I do for you today?"_

"Well I wanted to know if you'd help me with a case we're dealing with."

"_What's that?"_

"It's to do with a man named Zelgadis Greywars-"

"_Is he dead?"_

"Well yes and no I suppose…"

"_Huh?"_

"What I need to know is if you can tell me how the police's progress is concerning Mr. Greywars' missing person's case."

"_Sylphiel I'm not supposed to give out information to people outside the station."_

"Yeah that's what I figured. Filia and Lina put me up to calling you about it since Mr. Greywars' ghost is here and all-"

"_His ghost? So he must be dead. But you said he was both dead and live. How can he but both at the same time?"_

"Well he appears to be a ghost but he's not reading like one. Our instruments seem to indicate that he's alive."

"_Hmmm…give me a moment."_

_CLICK!_

Sylphiel frowned at the phone.

"Sylphiel what's wrong?" Lina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well either he put me on hold or he hung up on me."

"Wait then. If he hung up on you you'll know in a moment or too."

Sylphiel waited and waited and waited some more, then sighed and waited again.

"Maybe he put you on hold and forgot about you." Filia suggested snickering.

Sylphiel glared at Filia.

"_Hey Sylphiel? Are you still there?"_

"Yes I am Gourry."

"_Gee I'm sorry I left you waiting so long. I had a talk with my boss. He said I could tell you some of the minor details of the case."_

"That's wonderful Gourry! Thank you!"

"_Okay now I just have to figure out how to get into the case file on the computer… I think I press this button? No wait it was this one!"_

Sylphiel sweatdropped. She didn't need to be there to know that this wasn't going to be good.

"_There I think I got it. Oh wait no what's that thing popping up? Uh-oh um… I'll be right back Sylphiel."_ Gourry left the phone on the side but didn't bothering putting it on hold so this time Sylphiel could hear everything going on. _"Hey Zangulus could you come here for a moment. I think I did something to computer. It's making lots of noises and things are popping up that are making rude comments about me. I don't like it, it's scary." _

Sylphiel facefaulted. 'At this rate he'll end up erasing everything.'

"_Gourry why do you always do this? And what the hell did you do this time?"_ Sylphiel could hear Zangulus talking.

"_I wasn't trying to blow up the computer. It's lying, don't believe what it's saying."_ Gourry protested in his defence.

"_What were you trying to do?" _

"_I just wanted to look at a case file." _

"_And you felt compelled to crash the computer while doing so?" _

"_I didn't mean to! Did I break it?" _

Sylphiel could hear Zangulus sigh, he didn't sound all the impressed.

"_No Gourry you didn't break it. Just give me a moment I'll get it running again in a jiffy."_

Sylphiel could hear some rustling on the phone as Gourry picked it up.

"_Sorry this is taking so long Sylphiel."_ Gourry apologized.

"Having computer troubles Gourry?"

"_Yeah I'm no good with the things."_ Gourry laughed.

"Well you know there are always computer courses you can take if you want to sharpen up on your computer skills." Sylphiel suggested.

"_Yeah I know. In fact the station even chipped in for me to take a couple. I didn't do too well though. I flunked."_

Sylphiel giggled. "That's okay. A lot of people have problems with computers."

"_That's true. And who needs computer smarts when I've got Zangulus to help me?" _

Sylphiel could hear Zangulus grumbling which in turn made Sylphiel laugh.

"_Alright, it's fixed. Don't go messing it up Gourry."_ Zangulus warned Gourry.

"_Thanks Zangulus. Okay Sylphiel now then onto that case file…which case file was it again?" _

Sylphiel sweatdropped. "The missing person's report for Zelgadis Greywars."

"_Ah right here we go. No wait that's not right. How do you spell the last name?"_

"Greywars, g-r-e-y-w-a-r-s."

"_Thanks. Okay here it is. Greywars. He was reported missing by his boss on July 6th. Zelgadis Greywars is 23 years old, lives alone and has no immediate family. The investigation is still ongoing."_

"So I'm guessing the case went cold."

"_Yeah looks that way. We haven't had any new breaks in that case since last year. Everything listed here was a dead end. Hey wait a minute!"_

"What is it Gourry?"

"_It says here that Zangulus and I were the officers investigating the case. That's funny I don't remember this case at all! Zangulus must have done most of the work." _

Sylphiel sighed. Gourry might have been a good cop but his memory left something to be desired. "Well is there anything else you can tell me? Like his address?"

"_I'm sorry Sylphiel I can't give you that information. There's only one other thing I can tell you, and that's where he was last seen. The last time anyone saw Greywars was at work. He was working late in his office and offered to close up. So the other workers left for the night. When they came in the morning they had assumed that Greywars had left. Is that helpful to you at all?"_

"Yes it is, thank you Gourry."

"_You're welcome. Eeep I'd better get back to work. My boss is giving me the evil eye. Bye Sylphiel!"_

"Bye Gourry." Sylphiel hung up the phone.

"So what info do you have?" Lina prompted her for information right away.

"He's 23, lives alone and has no immediate family. He was last seen at work and the investigation is still ongoing. But it's gone cold." Sylphiel explained.

"Did you get his address?" Filia asked.

Sylphiel shook his head.

"Darn that would have been a good place to go to get some readings." Filia frowned.

"We can still go." Lina said fishing around her desk.

"No we can't. We don't know where the place is."

"Yeah so, we can still find out."

"How?"

Lina held up the previous year's phonebook. "With this."

"Why do you have old phonebooks?" Filia raised an eyebrow.

"For research purposes. I've got phonebooks dating back 30 years. It's handy when you want to check up a ghost that used to live someplace." Lina explained while flipping through the book.

"Yeah if you know the name of the ghost. And just where did you get all those books anyway?"

"I have my sources." Lina said mysteriously. "There we go. Greywars, Z. Hmmm… he doesn't live too far from Sailune City Library. Come to think of it Sailune Publishing is just two buildings over from the library. Maybe something happened to him at work and he got confused and ended up in wrong building." Lina mused.

"Should we go check it out? Or go to Sailune City Library first?"

Lina tapped her fingers in thought. "Well since Amelia has been cooped up all day I think she should come out on this one."

Amelia cheered.

"And also since Mr. Greywars here seems to be scared of Filia I think Sylphiel should stay and keep an eye on things."

"Okay." Sylphiel agreed to the arrangement hesitantly. She didn't have a lot of problems being around ghost. But Mr. Greywars wasn't a normal ghost so that made her a little more cautious then she'd normally be.

"Alright but still which fist, library or home?"

"Well how about this Filia, why don't you and Amelia go to the library and I'll check out his home." Lina suggested.

"Going alone... are you sure that's wise Lina?"

"From the information Sylphiel got from officer Gaberieve, the event that caused this problem with our ghost probably happened at his work and not his home. So it's better that you two stick together just in case. Besides if it's still an active investigation I highly doubt I'll be allowed to just waltz right into his home. I'll just do some readings outside the building. Is that okay with you two?" Lina asked Amelia and Filia.

The two women nodded.

"Alright then let's get going. I'll drop you off at the library and I'll come by once I'm done with Zelgadis' home."


	7. Chapter 7

**Ghost Slayers**

**Chapter Seven**

By Relm

"Miss Lina there is something that's bothering me." Amelia said looking out the window of the car as Lina drove.

"What's that Amelia?"

"Well let's say your high school physics teacher is right and Mr. Greywars is in fact stuck in a loop. Okay so he's been stuck doing the same sequence of events for like a year. I understand him getting confused or a temporal glitch that caused him to end up in the wrong building. But then how did he end up coming to our headquarters? And further more why isn't he following the same sequence of actions as he did at Sailune Publishing? He seems to be a lot more aware then what you told me about him before." Amelia pointed out.

"That's a good point Amelia. But when it comes to loops he'd be doing the exact same thing every single day. From what I was told at Sailune Publishing Zelgadis might have been doing similar things each day but they were still different." Lina explained.

"So you're on a fist name basis with our ghost Lina?" Filia teased Lina.

"Didn't you mother tell you not annoy a person while they're driving?" Lina snapped at Filia glaring at the road. She would have shot that glare at Filia but glaring at someone while driving wasn't the best of ideas.

"But we're almost there."

"I don't care. If you want to act like a smart ass then you can wait till after we get out of the car." Lina threatened. She was serious; there was nothing she hated more than people pissing her off while she was driving.

"Alright, alright. But to go along with the explanations… I think I might have an idea why Mr. Greywars is acting more aware of surroundings and why he came back with us." Filia mused.

"Oh really? And what do you figure?"

"Well from my experiments with electricity it seems that Mr. Greywars is affected by electrical currents. He's able to touch things to a certain degree for a small period of time. So I think that it was our guns that triggered the change in him. When we zapped him he disappeared. And when he came back he seemed to be more aware of what's going on around him. It's almost like we pulled him from his loop that he was in." Filia explained.

"Okay then why don't we try and zap him again?" Amelia suggested.

"Because our instruments read him as human. And we know that our stun ghosts. But they aren't safe to use on living people. Until we know for sure what Zelgadis is I don't want to risk doing anything that can potentially hurt him." Lina interjected. She didn't like the idea of torturing him as a science experiment.

"Assuming you can hurt him." Filia mused as Lina parked the car.

"Well I don't want to try." Lina got out of the car and put money in the parking meter.

"Yeah okay. So I guess this is where we part ways." Filia observed.

"Yup. Make sure you two be careful." Lina cautioned them.

"You too Lina."

The three of them parted ways, Amelia and Filia went in the direction of the library while Lina went towards the apartment complex of Zelgadis Greywars.

...

Sylphiel sighed rather bored while she tried to look up information on the case for tomorrow. The house according their clients was haunted and Sylphiel was trying to find any sort of relation with the house to any local ghost stories over the internet. But that was the problem with the net. Unless you were going to a very factual website like an encyclopaedia website, then the information may not be completely accurate. Anyone can start up a website saying whatever they want. So the content on said site wasn't guaranteed to be accurate.

That being said Sylphiel still couldn't find any information regarding the house. 'I wouldn't even be surprised if this place isn't even haunted.'

Sylphiel closed the search windows and turned off the screen. She got up out of her chair to stretch while looking around the room. Slimer was exactly where Sylphiel remembered seeing him last, sitting at the table 'playing' checkers. Zelgadis had originally 'playing' checkers with Slimer, but Zelgadis seemed to have disappeared.

"Slimer where did Mr. Greywars go?" Sylphiel asked Slimer knowing very well that he couldn't answer her as it is.

As expected Slimer gave Sylphiel a very blank stare while grinning. Checker pieces oozed out of his mouth making a nice little puddle on the checker board and table.

"Well that's a lovely mess you have there Slimer. But seriously do you know where Mr. Greywars went? The other ghost that was here?"

Slimer thought real hard for a minute. And then shook his head splattering goo everywhere, including on Sylphiel's shirt.

"Yuck. I'll take that as a no."

...

Lina looked up at Zelgadis' apartment complex. It was not what Lina had been expecting. Zelgadis looked to be a real distinguished and classy person, and Lina had expected an expensive apartment to reflect that. But it was the exact opposite. The building was run down looking and was covered with graffiti. "Hmm… I guess the rent is cheap. Oh well better try and get some readings." Lina got out her scanner and started doing sweeps of the area. 'That's odd.' Lina thought noticing the large thermal spikes. "Why am I getting such high thermal readings?" Lina looked at the scanner and as walked towards the source. When she finally looked up she noticed why she was getting strange readings. There was Zelgadis Greywars stood before her smiling a big smile.

"Zelgadis what are you doing here?"

...

"Excuse me do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?" Amelia asked an elderly woman at the front desk of the library.

"Yes dear what would you like to ask?"

"I was wonder if I could ask about an employee that used to work here. His name is Zelgadis Greywars."

The woman's smile left her face. "Mr. Greywars is missing."

"We know, we read the missing person's file on the public bulletin board website." Filia explained. "We wanted to know if there has been any strange occurrences since Mr. Greywars' disappearance. Like things moving on their own or seeing strange transparent figures?"

The woman frowned. "No not that I know of. Who are you people? Why are you asking questions like that?"

Amelia and Filia both looked at each other.

"We're from Ghost Slayers." Amelia said sheepishly.

"That company not too far from here that deals with ghosts that are haunting places? You girls exterminate ghosts? For a living?"

Amelia and Filia both sweatdropped.

"Well it's a very valuable service. Many people are in need of ghost removal from their homes and places of business." Amelia said quietly.

"Either way why are you here? And why are you asking about Mr. Greywars? Do you think he's dead and haunting this place?" The woman's voice got louder and more higher pitched with every question she asked. It was easy to see that she was really starting to get upset.

"No of course we don't think he's dead and haunting the library. But we do believe something bad happened to him. And we think we might be able to help the police with their investigation if we can just have a look around Mr. Greywars' work area and do some readings. We wont touch anything." Amelia assured the woman.

"Do the police know you're doing this?"

"Yes they do." Filia nodded her head.

Amelia shot Filia a look that said 'what the hell are you saying'.

"They do?"

"Yes they are aware that we're trying to solve this mystery. If you don't believe me call the police station. Ask for Officer Gaberieve, he knows the situation."

The woman gave Filia a suspicious look. "Alright I think I will. Give me a moment." The woman went off to use the phone.

Amelia pulled Filia aside. "Miss Filia what are you doing?" Amelia demanded in a hissed whisper.

"Don't worry Amelia. Officer Gaberieve will back us up. Quick get your scanner out. May as well get a couple quick readings."

Amelia grumbled but complied.

...

Lina looked at Zelgadis with curiosity. She had asked him what he was doing there but of course the only thing she got in a response from him was a bigger smile. "Well I guess you'll be tagging along with my investigation." Lina brought her scanner up to look at while she walked towards the apartment front doors.

Zelgadis walked closer to her and walked right through her.

In an instant Lina felt a strange sense of vertigo, which made her blink. When she refocused her vision she noticed that she was no longer outside the apartment building. She was standing in what looked like a living room of a very nice and neat apartment. Or it would have been nice if everything didn't seem to be in black in white. This struck Lina as odd, why would someone do their home completely in shades of black, white and grey? It didn't take long for Lina to realize that it was her vision that was in shades of grey, not the room. 'Why can't I see any colour?' Lina went to move and say something when she noticed that she could barely move. The air seemed to be as thick as molasses, making it very difficult to move or breathe. This realization made Lina start to panic, until she noticed Zelgadis walk around the room.

Zelgadis didn't seem to notice Lina at all; he just walked around the room going about his daily business.

Lina tried to say something to Zelgadis but she couldn't will her voice to sound.

Suddenly Zelgadis looked in Lina's direction. Lina was sure he knew she was there. But as it turns out Lina was standing in front of the door and he was leaving to go to work. Again Zelgadis walked through her and as he did the scene changed. Now instead of his apartment both Lina and Zelgadis were in the Sailune Library. He was reading and drinking coffee sitting at his desk. There were many books scattered about on the desk, many of them old and in ancient languages. There was this one particular book that looked quite old and seemed to be glowing. It was the only thing in the room that Lina saw in colour, it glowed bright red. Though the book was right next to Zelgadis, he failed to see its glowing aura.

Lina knew there was something horribly wrong with that book and tried to warn Zelgadis. But like before he could hear or see her.

The book's pages started to flutter with more and more of its' red aura escaping. It seemed to mist off as though it were a hot object that was steaming.

Zelgadis turned another page in the book he was reading still unaware of the danger wafting to his right.

'What the hell is going on here?' Lina thought to herself, which was all that she could do.

The glowing book opened further and a misty red hand snaked out reaching towards Zelgadis. As the hand got closer Lina's heart raced more. 'Zelgadis watch out!' Lina tried to scream out loud but instead screamed in her head.

As Zelgadis put his coffee mug back down the red misty hand grabbed hold his arm. In that sudden instant Zelgadis screamed a soundless scream as his eyes turned blood red.

...

Lina opened her eyes and noticed where she was now. She was back outside the apartment complex. The air was no longer thick and the world no longer lacked colour. Zelgadis was standing before Lina with a look of deep concern gracing his well-defined face.

"What was that?" Lina shook her head trying to shake off that feeling of dread that still welled in the pit of her stomach. She shivered despite the fact that it wasn't cold.

...

Amelia cautiously took readings while Filia kept watch for the library lady. "Amelia got anything?"

"Just normal readings. No ghost activity that I can read." Amelia said with a sigh.

"Put the scanner away she's coming back."

The woman walked back to join Amelia and Filia with a look of annoyance evident in her face. "Well it seems that you are telling the truth. I didn't get a hold of Officer Gaberieve, but I did talk to his partner. According to him you're allowed to take a look around, but you'll have to wait for him to get here first. He'll be here in a couple moments."

"Thank you very much. We'll wait outside then." Filia smiled at the lady and dragged Amelia outside.

"Why'd you want to leave for?" Amelia asked in confusion.

"I want to call Lina and see how things are going with her." Filia pulled out her cell phone and started dialling. "Last I checked you weren't allowed to use cell phones in libraries."

"_Hello this is Lina." _

"Hi Lina. It's Filia. We got to the library and wanted to check out Greywars' office but the lady at the desk wouldn't let us. I told her we were helping with the investigation and she should call Officer Gaberieve and check with him if she didn't believe us."

"_Did she call?"_

"Yeah but she got his partner. Strangely he's going to let us look though he wants to be there. So we're waiting for him to show up outside the building." Filia explained.

"_Okay but did you find out anything so far?"_

"Not much. The place isn't exactly steaming with ghostly readings and according to the lady there hasn't been any strange things happening around the library."

"_Hmmm… I suppose you'll get some readings in his office."_

"Yeah hopefully. What about you Lina? Anything interesting happen on your end?"

"_You know what, something very strange happened. Something I'm not quite sure how to explain." _


	8. Chapter 8

**Ghost Slayers**

**Chapter Eight**

By Relm

Sylphiel looked everywhere trying to find Zelgadis. "Where could he have gone?" She mused as she pulled out her cell phone to fail Lina's number. "I should let Lina know of the situation. She's bound to be angry either way." Much to Sylphiel's dismay, the line was busy.

Hanging up Sylphiel let out a sigh. "I guess all I can do it try Filia's cell." Sylphiel dialled up Filia's number and waited for it to ring. But like with Lina's number, Sylphiel got a busy signal. "Hmm… well maybe they are talking to each other. I'll try Amelia's next." She dialled the number and waited for it to ring on her end, which it did.

In the room.

Sylphiel looked around for the source of the ringing. After search she spotted Amelia's cute pink cell phone sitting right next to the computer monitor on the desk. Sighing in defeat Sylphiel sat back at the chair. "Guess I'll have to wait and try them later."

...

"Wow that's a strange story Lina." Filia said over the phone to her boss whom just finished explaining what happened to her. "So I guess that means Mr. Greywars is still with you."

"_Yeah. And I don't think it's a good idea to take Zelgadis to the library. After not seeing him at all these past months seeing a ghost version of him might freak them out." _

"For sure. But what are you going to do?"

"_Well I'm still going to do some more readings and then go back to the car and meet you two later. If I can get Zelgadis to stay in the car I'll come in." _

"Do you think it's a good idea to leave a ghost along in a car during the day?"

"_Um Filia he's a ghost not a dog."_

"You know what I mean."

"_Yeah okay I'll be careful."_

"Okay well I'd better go. Talk to you later."

"_By Filia."_

Filia hung up her phone.

"So what happened with Miss Lina?" Amelia asked with curiosity.

"Lina had a strange thing that happened to her. She had a vision of what happened to our ghost before he disappeared." Filia explained.

"What Miss Lina is psychic now?" Amelia frowned in confusion.

Filia just looked at Amelia for a moment. "No Amelia, she's not. Apparently Mr. Greywars followed us and ended up with Lina. He walked through her and she had a strange black and white vision of him at his home and work. She couldn't move, couldn't talk and the only thing she saw that was in colour was a strange misty hand that came out of one of the books Mr. Greywars had on his desk. It seems that the misty hand grabbed him and might be why he became what he is now."

Amelia shivered. "And we have to go in there too. I hope we don't have the same fate."

"And what fate would that be?" A tanned man with long wavy black hair asked walking up to the library stairs. He was dressed in a police uniform and wore a big smile.

"Well hello there Officer Zoana. You're quicker then I'd thought you'd be." Filia smiled back at him.

"Yes well I do like to be prompt."

"Where's Officer Gaberieve? I thought he was coming with you." Amelia observed.

"He is-" Officer Zangulus Zoana looked around in confusion. "Where the hell did Gourry go now? I swear I need to get a leash for him." Zangulus shook his head.

"Zangulus! Where did you go?" A voiced called from across the street.

"Over here Gourry! What are you doing over there for?"

"I um… don't know…" Gourry came over sporting a sheepish smile.

"Nevermind." Zangulus shook his head again.

"I thought Sylphiel was going to be here." Gourry commented with a hint of disappointment.

"I'm sorry Officer Gaberieve, she's back at our headquarters manning the phones. Since Amelia had been doing that all day Lina wanted to give her a rest." Filia explained suppressing a giggle. She will have to bug Sylphiel about this later on.

"So Gourry tells me you're dealing with a case involving Zelgadis Greywars. Something about him being dead but not dead at the same time?"

"Yeah he appears and acts similar to a ghost, but he gives off thermal energy like he's a living person." Filia explained.

"Why do you want to look around his office for?"

"We just want to get some readings. To see if there's any clues to explain what happened to him."

"Well I can assure you Greywars wasn't killed in that room, or at least not by conventional means. We searched that place from top to bottom. No sign of a struggle or any sort of foul play. And no blood."

Filia frowned. "Still whatever happened to him that caused his change might be linked to that room."

"Alright I'll let you know there are only two reasons why I'm letting you go in that room. One because Gourry has been bugging me to help you guys out. And two because I'm at a loss with the Greywars missing person case, and there might be a small chance that you guys might be able to shed some new light on the case. That being said you still can't touch anything in the room or move anything. Everything is to be left as it. And you can't take any photos. You can go in, look and take your readings. That's it." Zangulus said very sternly.

"They can't take any pictures at all?" Gourry asked.

"No Gourry they can't."

Gourry frowned. "How big is that office anyway? Will it fit 4 people?"

"Three people, Gourry you're going to stay outside the room."

"Huh?"

"Because it's not a big place and I don't want you messing anything up. You have a tendency to do that."

"Aww…" Gourry sighed.

"Alright lets go."

...

"Okay Zelgadis, I'm done here. I think it's about time we head back to meet the others." Lina ushered Zelgadis towards the street. "What are we going to do about you? If people see you they might freak out." Lina checked to see if the street was clear. Despite the fact that it was sunny and it was daylight there wasn't a huge number of people walking on the street. "Okay follow me." Lina motioned for him to follow as she lead him down the street.

As people passed by Lina, Lina made Zelgadis hide behind things to avoid being seen. Which went pretty good considering the people driving cars were too concerned with their driving then the people on the sidewalks, and the people walking on the sidewalks were too absorbed in worlds of their own. For the most part no one noticed Zelgadis. And if they did, they didn't bother to even give him a second glance.

"You know I never knew just how unfriendly the people are in this city…" Lina thought out loud.

Zelgadis made no motion to comment on that or if he did it wasn't enough that Lina noticed it.

"Okay we're almost to the car." Lina informed Zelgadis as they got closer to where Lina had parked.

The Ghost Slayersmobile was parked right in front of the Sailune Library. Even though it was farther away from the apartment complex it had been the only spot Lina could grab.

The closer Lina got to the car the more her scanner started to go crazy. Even though Lina had folded it up and clipped to her belt it was still beeping. It only beeped when there was a ghost in the area.

"Huh why's it beeping?" Lina pulled out her scanner and checked the reading. She scanned the area outside the library and got nothing. The source was coming from behind her. Lina looked behind her and pointed it at Zelgadis, it was coming from him. "What the…?"

The scanner's reading was showing a sharp decline of thermal energy from Zelgadis and Zelgadis' face reflected that. He seemed to be in a great deal of pain and his hands were starting to vanish. He took a few steps back and it seemed to lessen some of the pain. And Zelgadis' thermal readings started to go up again.

"Zelgadis come with me, we're going to go far away from the library." Lina tried to get Zelgadis to listen to her. She was very concerned with what was going on. 'There is definitely something wrong here.'

At first Zelgadis didn't seem to hear her, but then nodded in understanding as they walked towards a park and sat down.

"Okay looks like you're readings are back to normal, or normal for you that is. And you look a little better too." Lina commented while frowning.

Zelgadis didn't make any motion to acknowledge her. He just seemed to be sitting back taking deep breaths which was strange, he wasn't exactly letting out any air as he was still a ghost like thing.

Lina pulled out her cell phone. "I think I'd better call Filia and tell her." Before Lina could dial her phone started ringing. "Sylphiel's calling. I wonder what she wants. Hello?"

"_Hi Lina, it's Sylphiel."_

"Hi. What's up?"

"_Mister Greywars seems to have gone missing." _

"Yeah I know he's with me right now."

"_He is?"_

"Yeah he just popped up out of nowhere. There's a big long story to do with that. Can I tell you it later? I need to call Filia about something important."

"_Sure. I just wanted to let you know about Mister Greywars." _

"Okay bye Sylphiel."

"_Bye Lina."_

"Looks like you staged a prison break there. Sylphiel really sounded concerned. You should have told her you were leaving." Lina half joked at the ghost.

Zelgadis again didn't respond.

"Okay fine I'm calling Filia. There is something strange at that library that's for sure."


	9. Chapter 9

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Nine

By Relm

"Wow that's an interesting story Miss Ul Copt." Zangulus commented as Filia told him the whole entire story including what Lina had told her about the vision.

"So yeah you can see why Lina wants us to do some readings." Filia stated once more as they walked closer to Zelgadis Greywars' office. She was going to say something more when her cell phone began ringing.

Many people in the library collectively shushed at Filia and gave her dirty looks.

"Eeep! Stupid phone, whose calling me?" Filia picked up her phone scolding. "Oh it's Lina. Why's she calling me for? Hello Lina?" Filia answered her phone whispering.

"_You're in the library I guess, sorry. I'll try and make this quick. Zel here got a strange reaction when he got close to the library. He started to lose thermal energy and appeared to be in a lot of pain. Plus his hands started disappearing. My guess is that book might still be there and active. So be careful."_

"Where are you now?"

"_In the park. You guys should probably take the car and meet us here when you're done. I don't want to risk taking Zelgadis to the car again or leaving him alone." _

"Okay but I'd better go."

"_Yeah sure. If you see the book draw a picture of it, seeing how I doubt they will let you take pictures of a crime scene."_

"Okay I will Lina. Bye."

"_Bye Filia." _

"Wow that's weird." Filia mumbled while hanging up her phone.

"What did Miss Lina want?'

"It seems that whatever might have caused Mr. Greywars to become what he is now might still be in his office and still active."

"But wouldn't we be getting readings out here then? And how does Miss Lina know this?"

"Mr. Greywars was having a strange reaction to the library. The closer he got the more his thermal levels dropped. Plus he appeared to be in pain and his hands were vanishing. Lina wants us to be careful and make any notes we can about the office. Especially if we find the book."

...

"Well Zel looks like it's just and me for a little while." Lina said pulling out a notepad and a pen from her pack. "If you're wondering I'm going to try and draw a picture of that book I saw in the vision. Of course I'm not much of an artist to begin with. Filia and Sylphiel are the artists of our group." Lina took a look at the picture she had drawn. It was crude at best but at least it had some of the basic parts of the book that Lina could remember.

Zelgadis looked over at Lina's drawing with curiosity. At first there was no real reaction from him. A few moments later he started to tense up and looked away. He seemed to shiver uncontrollably as he tried to calm himself.

This was unnoticed by Lina as she took a picture with her cell phone. "I'll send this to Sylphiel to look it up." Lina sent the picture on her phone to Sylphiel's cell. A moment later Lina then called Sylphiel.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi Sylphiel, it's Lina. I just sent you a pic of a sketch I did."

"_Yeah. It's um… interesting." _

"Oh shut up. Yeah it's no Picasso but who the hell cares. It's a just a quick sketch of something I saw in a vision."

"_You've become physic now?"_

Lina rolled her eyes. "No Sylphiel. When Zelgadis showed up at the apartment area he went right through me. When he did I had this strange vision. It seemed like what happened to Zelgadis in his last day as a normal living person. I saw him in his apartment and in his office. There was this book on his desk and I could see a red glowing aura coming from it that Zelgadis couldn't see or didn't notice. A hand emerged from the misty aura and grabbed Zelgadis and that's when the vision ended."

"_Are you saying that this book is what caused Mr. Greywars' change?"_

"Might very well be the case."

"_So what it's a possessed book?"_

"Well there are studies of exorcists in older times that used to expel spirits from people, homes and objects and force them into books. It's possible this could be a one of those books."

"_I'm guessing you're wanting me to check up on the book using your drawing as a reference."_

"Yeah. I asked Filia to draw a picture of it if she happens to find it. If she does it will be a lot better then I drew. But try and see what you can find out for now."

"_Okay but you might want to send Filia that pic so that she has more a reference to go on when she looks in the office."_

"Good idea Sylphiel. I'll let you get to work."

"_Okay bye Lina."_

"Bye Sylphiel." Lina hung up her phone and repeated the same process with Filia's cell. She waited for Filia to answer her phone.

"_Hello?"_ Filia whispered.

"Still in the library huh?" Lina said smugly.

"_Yes I would like you to stop constantly calling me! If my phone rings one more time I'm going to get thrown out of this place!"_ Filia hissed at her in a quiet tone.

"Then put your phone on vibrate. Anyway did you get the pic?"

"_Yeah looks a lot like chicken scratch to me."_

"It's a rough sketch you twit. Just try and use it as a reference for the book okay?"

"_Alright fine. I'm going now. Bye."_

"Bye." Lina hung up her phone and looked over at Zelgadis.

He sat with his back hunched towards the tree he was slumped against. It didn't seem as though he was in pain but he did appear to be exhausted. It seemed that just the act of breathing was taking all of his energy.

"Zelgadis are you okay?"

Zelgadis didn't answer Lina, not that he could anyway. But he didn't even try to acknowledge her. His eyes remained closed and breathing laboured.

"What's going on with you Zel?" Lina asked almost rhetorically. She went to get closer to him but he recoiled when the paper got near him.

"The picture? Is that what's bothering you?" Lina folded up the paper and put it in her pocket.

With the picture out of sight Zelgadis seemed to calm down and didn't seem as tired as he had been. He looked over at Lina and weakly smiled.

"That book must have done a real number on you. Just seeing a picture of it is affecting you. At least that shows that my picture wasn't totally inaccurate." Lina smiled at that.

...

The door to Zelgadis' office had a row of police tape scrawled across it. Even though they had no real evidence that this was the actual crime scene they still had the room sealed off. Which was irritating to the library as there were some books in the office that were old and belonged to the library and they couldn't touch them.

Zangulus opened the door and stepped under the tape. He motioned for Filia and Amelia to follow him.

The office itself was a jumbled of books, papers, files and a big desk with a computer on it. It was full of stuff and it was messy. But strangely enough with all the stuff crammed into the room it seemed to be an organized mess.

"Wow. There's sure a lot of stuff in here." Filia pointed out the very obvious. She could see why the police didn't believe there was any foul play in the room. Though it was messy, there wasn't any stuffed dumped on the floor. Had there been a struggle stuff would be everywhere.

"Where did Miss Lina say that book was supposed to be?" Amelia asked trying to look around without touching anyway.

"On the desk there." Filia motioned towards the desk as she pulled out her cell phone to look at the picture. "Take some reading while I look okay?"

"Okay." Amelia pulled out her scanner and started taking some readings.

Filia frowned as she tried to compare the picture to the books around her. The picture Lina drew wasn't the greatest so it was hard to pick out the book she drew for two reasons. One Filia couldn't move anything and the books were stacked and two because the drawing wasn't detailed enough looked like it could be just about any book on the desk. They seemed to be a collection of books all baring similar designs on their covers so there was no way to tell just which of these books it was. The main difference between these books was the fact that each book had a minor difference in the pattern and that they were all different colours. And since Lina's vision was in black and white she didn't tell Filia what colour the book had been. "Well this isn't any help. You getting anything Amelia?"

Amelia shook her head. "Nope not a thing. Maybe what caused Mr. Greywars to start hurting and losing his thermal energy isn't in this room. Are you having trouble finding the book?"

"Yeah. I'll still make a sketch of the books here. Maybe if I draw a couple Lina can tell us exactly which one it is." Filia got out her small sketch pad and started sketching.

Zangulus frowned. He had been told not to let them take any pictures. And even though they weren't doing that they were still making notes of the crime scene. 'Well the chief didn't say anything drawing.'

"I am allowed to draw aren't I Officer Zoana?" Filia stopped and gave a sideways glance at Zangulus.

"Drawing is fine. Though don't go advertising that you did it to anyone at the station."

"I won't."

"Good."

"What should we do after this? Call Miss Lina to give her an update?"

"Yeah that would probably be a good idea. I'm almost done. You know it might be a good idea to talk to some of the library staff to see if they recognize the books." Filia suggested.

"That is a good idea. Maybe they can tell us why there is a people killing book in their library." Amelia stated with a shiver.

"We have no proof that he was in fact killed, let alone by a book." Filia rolled her eyes at Amelia. "Okay I'm done. Let's go talk to the library staff again."


	10. Chapter 10

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Ten

By Relm

Once Filia and Amelia were done with Zelgadis' office they took Filia's sketches to talk with the library staff.

At first the library staff person didn't want to have anything to do with Filia or the investigation until she showed the picture Lina drew.

"Where did you get this?" One woman named Dawn Palny asked Filia looking at Lina's crude sketch.

"That doesn't matter where I want to know is do you know what this is?" Filia persisted. She wasn't too please with the lack of help she was getting.

"Yes I do. But I won't tell you unless you tell me how you got this." Dawn demanded.

"I got it from my boss. It's related to a case of ours." Filia said through gritted teeth.

"You're from the Ghost Slayers… Mister Zelgadis was turned into a ghost?" She asked in surprise.

"What makes you think that Zelgadis is the ghost we're investigating?"

"Because Mister Zelgadis was the one doing research on the Mglah collection before he disappeared." Dawn explained.

"Is this symbol from the Mglah collection?"

"Is Mister Zelgadis a ghost or not?"

"I cannot confirm or deny that statement."

"My god he is a ghost! How horrible!" Dawn exclaimed in a hushed tone.

"Ma'am though I can't confirm that I hope you understand that I must insist that you not tell people about what we are talking about. It has to stay completely classified do you understand me?" Filia glared down the woman with a no nonsense stare.

"Yes I understand."

"Alright now tell me about this book collection."

"Okay. The Mglah book collection was written a thousand years ago during the Kol era on Talini islands. From what little we know of the books are about mysticism and mythology. The Mglahans worshiped various mystical creatures and had various methods of worship. It is believed that some of the books outline some the worship rituals they practiced."

"Believed? So you don't actually know?" Amelia asked.

"Well the Mglahan language is an old dead language. Very few people have been able to translate some of the works of the Mglahan. The language is very complex and hard to understand."

"And Mister Zelgadis was one of those people that could translate the text?" Amelia prompted the librarian.

"Yes, not as well as some could, but he could translate some of the text of some of the books. A dig on the Talini islands found the collection of books that our library currently owns. They were found in buried ritual chamber and locked away in a strange stone box. Strangely enough the books were found quite preserved as though the stone box had been vacuum sealed. Mister Zelgadis had taken it upon himself to write a complete translation of all thirteen books."

"Thirteen?" Filia mused. "I thought I only saw twelve of them in Zelgadis' office."

"Yes. When Mister Zelgadis disappeared an investigation of his office revealed that one of the books was missing. The red text as that one was called."

"Why?"

"The book was red and the pages written in a dark red ink. All the other books were black ink. That one was the only one that was different from the others. There were rumours that Mister Zelgadis decided to run away taking the red text with him to sell on the black market for a fortune and retire on an island beach. Though Mister Zelgadis was never a sun seeker it didn't stop the police from checking the markets and the Internet for people selling rare books. But they never came up with anything concrete."

"The Mglahan people, did they believe in demons or ghosts?" Filia asked while taking notes down of everything Dawn said.

"Yes they had a great belief system in demons and evil spirits."

"Did they ever write about trapping a ghost or demon in a book?"

Dawn frowned. "Well I know the myths of monsters in books was quite popular in neighbouring nations at the time there wasn't too much translated about the Mglahan people practicing such beliefs and rituals. But then little of the texts have been translated so there is a possibility." She surmised.

"Did anyone have any strange reactions to any of the books of the collection? Feelings of uneasiness, disorientation or sensations of sudden drops in temperature?"

"There were a few members of our staff that got chills and felt uneasy around the red text. The book seemed to give off a strange vibe to some people. Being that Mister Zelgadis wasn't particularly superstitious he volunteered to work on translating the books despite some uneasiness by others."

"And you didn't find that alarming that some members of your staff were frightened by the book?"

Dawn shook her head. "Books do not harm people, people harm people ma'am. And those of our staff that were 'uneasy' around the red text are very superstitious people. We come to expect such behaviour from them that we don't pay much notice to it."

"This image I have here," Filia showed Dawn Lina's crude drawing on her cell phone, "can you tell me which book this symbol is from?"

"I'm sorry. I never really got a close enough look at the collection to really identify which symbol belongs to which. That is what makes the language so hard to read and understand, so many of the symbols look almost the same except for a very small minor difference."

"What about the red text? Would you say the symbol could belong to that book?"

Dawn shrugged. "It could be, but I can't say for sure."

"Is there anyone one else in the library that could tell us more about this symbol or the red text?"

"Just Mister Zelgadis. Ancient and dead languages were his forte. We don't have anyone else with his level of expertise."

"Well thank you for your time." Filia frowned.

"What was with the FBI agent routine Miss Filia? 'This information must be confidential' blah blah blah." Amelia poked Filia in the ribs once Dawn had left.

"Do you really want her to go around blabbing that Zelgadis is dead and his ghost is walking around?"

"But FBI?"

"It worked didn't it?" Filia glared at Amelia.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one. We'd better go see Miss Lina."

...

"Amelia and Filia should be here soon and then we can get back to the GS headquarters." Lina told Zelgadis who didn't really seem to be listening to her.

Zelgadis just continued to look at the ground not paying any attention to Lina or anything else. He didn't even seem to be looking at anything either, like his gaze was blind and he was staring off into nothingness.

"Listen I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to flash around the picture so much. I had no idea it would have that effect on you now will please just drop it? Men! They just can't let anything go." Lina muttered crossing her arms in protest.

Zelgadis broke off his vacant stare to shoot Lina a smile. There was really no way to know what was going through his head or to really understand him but Lina didn't seem to have any problems having a conversation with him. In fact it didn't matter the Zelgadis couldn't talk; she seemed to be able to do that for him.

"Alright Lina we're here." Filia called out to Lina with Amelia following her.

"So what did you find out?"

"The book that you saw in that vision is part of a thirteen book collection from the Mglahan people on the Talini islands from about a thousand years ago." Filia read from her notes.

"A thousand years, they looked maybe 10 or 15 years old but not a thousand." Lina exclaimed.

"Probably has some self preservation enchantment to keep it from breaking down. I'm not exactly sure which book the symbol is from but one of the books is red and written with red ink. This book is special from the others because the rest of them are written with black ink and this book disappeared when Zelgadis went missing. And certain superstitious people in the library felt chills and uneasy around the book." Filia closed up her notepad.

"Is the book that grabbed Zelgadis the red book?"

Filia shrugged. "I don't know. It seems that Zelgadis is the only one in the library who really knew much about the books. There wasn't anyone else in the library that could really help me identify it. However I did draw pictures of the books I was able to see. Why don't you take a look at them and tell me if any of them are the one from the vision." Filia went to show Lina her sketchbook.

"Wait. Why don't you show me a little ways over there? Amelia why don't you keep Zelgadis company?" Lina ushered Filia a fairways away from where Zelgadis was sitting.

"Why do I have to show it to you over here?" Filia frowned in confusion.

"Zel was having a strange reaction to my drawing. It was bothering him until I put it away. I don't want to risk anything else happening to him. Even a picture of the symbol is enough to mess with his non physical chemistry. So show it to me."

"Okay." Filia pulled out the sketches and showed Lina. "Is the book any of those?"

Lina scanned the pictures thoroughly and frowned. "No. They look very similar but somehow they just don't look right. I wish I could draw better."

"So do I."

Lina glared at Filia. "I also sent the picture to Sylphiel. I'll call her and see if there is anything that she came up with." Lina dialled up Sylphiel's number.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi Sylphiel. Found anything yet?"

"_Not much. Filia have any luck?"_

"Yeah the book is from the Mglah book collection. Though she doesn't know which book it is."

"_Okay I'll try looking it up with that information."_

"Try and get pics of all the book covers if you can. That way I can see if I can figure out which book it is from the covers."

"_Alright, I'll talk to you later then." _

"Bye." Lina hung up her phone. "Well Sylphiel didn't come up with much. She's starting a new search with what you got."

"You know Lina I have a feel the book you saw in the vision was the red text."

"I don't know Filia. You said the book disappeared. Why would Zelgadis be having such a strange reaction to the book if it isn't there?"

"You said he had a reaction to your picture maybe the other books affect him. Or maybe the red text is leaving some sort of residual energy in the library that he's reacting to."

"Did you scan the room?"

"Yeah we did. Didn't come up with anything."

Lina frowned. "This is certainly a strange case. Let's get back to headquarters. Maybe by the time we get back Sylphiel will have come up with something."

"Oh yeah remind me when we get there I have to bug Sylphiel."

"About what?"

"That's for me to know and Sylphiel to be embarrassed with." Filia snickered.


	11. Chapter 11

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Eleven

By Relm

The ride back to GS headquarters was a quiet one. Zelgadis seemed very vacant and unresponsive (not that he was extremely much to begin with) and the girls didn't feel like chatting. It was as though recent events had casted a spell of uneasiness over the four of them. Though they had found out some information, they had more questions than when they started. And they were not any closer to figuring out how to help Zelgadis with his situation.

Lina chewed her bottom lip in thought as she parked their car. 'In the vision the book was glowing red so I guess it's not a real stretch to believe that the book was in fact the red text. But seeing how everything was in black and white then the red might just signify evil energy. So it could still be one of the remaining twelve books. Of course if that's the case then what happened to the thirteenth book? Which brings me back to the possibility of the missing book being the evil book. And what would make that book an evil book in the first place? Is an evil spirit or demon trapped in those words of text? Or was it a trapping spell? And if so where is Zelgadis' body and where did the book go?' Many more questions flew through Lina's mind. Amelia and Filia were thinking similar thoughts.

With all the serious and intense thinking the walk up to the Ghost Slayers main office was a quiet one. That was until they were greeted by everyone's favourite green spectre.

"BALLAAA!" Slimer bellowed as he proceeded to give everyone (Zelgadis included) great big bear hugs. This might have been a nice gesture had Slimer not covered each of the hugged in green goop.

"Yuck…" Lina sighed and half-heartedly shook some of the gunk off her. After having Slimer around for so long, Lina had long since stopped caring about the messes Slimer made. All the Ghost Slayers knew very well to keep many spare changes of clothing at work.

Sylphiel tried to stifle her giggles as she glanced at her friends. "Well I guess that teaches you guys to come back looking so glum. You know Slimer likes his friends to be happy." Sylphiel said in an almost singsong sort of a way.

Lina, Amelia and Filia collectively glared at Sylphiel, which in turn made Sylphiel burst out with uncontrollable laughter.

Zelgadis on the other hand seemed quite distressed with the green slime that he had been covered in.

Lina cleared her throat. "If you're done laughing at our expense Sylphiel do you have any more information for us?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "The internet isn't exactly the most reliable place to get information. All the stuff I could find was stuff we already know. And I couldn't find pictures of the book covers. I even tried to see if I could get my hands on some pictures of language samples, but all I got were just references. It seems that Mglahan people and their culture is one big mystery." Sylphiel explained with a sigh. "There doesn't seem to be much research going on about them."

Lina's eyes lit up. "Right because Zelgadis here was one of the few doing the research."

"I know that look in your eyes Lina. You've thought of something haven't you?" Filia mused with a raised eyebrow.

"Follow me on this one. So Zelgadis here is one of the few people doing research on these books right? Well that means that he has most likely backed up some of his research on a computer. Like scans of the books themselves. All we need to do is see if we can get access to office and personal computer!" Lina exclaimed.

"One problem with that Lina. We're not allowed to touch anything at the office, and unless you broke into his apartment I don't see how we're going to get a chance to look at his files." Filia dashed Lina's plans with a grumble.

"Who says we have to be at his computer to look at his files?" Lina asked with a devilish grin on her face.

"But we do Miss Lina." Amelia interjected. "How can you look at stuff in a person's computer when you're not physically at that said computer? It's not like we can hack into them."

"Why can't we?" Lina's grin grew.

"Because that's wrong! Hacking is illegal Miss Lina!" Amelia protested.

"It's only wrong if we're hacking into a computer we don't have permission to hack into." Lina turned to Zelgadis. "So what do you say Zel? Do you mind if we hack into your computer?" She asked sweetly while batting her eyelashes.

Zelgadis grinned and shook his head.

"See? No problems." Lina declared.

"Yes there's problems. A, Zelgadis probably has no idea what you're asking him. B, we don't even know if either his personal home computer or office computer is hooked up to the net. And finally c, even if Zelgadis is giving his permission to hack into his computer that is not the same as saying it's okay to hack into his office computer. Technically all the research information that would be on that particular computer would actually belong to the library as it is one of their computers." Filia chided Lina.

Lina waved her hands in the air. "So then we try Zelgadis' home computer first. It's not like he could do anything to stop us."

"And if it's not hooked up to the net or doesn't have any useful information?" Filia prompted.

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Besides I highly doubt the library would even notice that one of their computers was being hacked into."

Amelia frowned. "You're forgetting one thing Miss Lina. We don't have a hacker to hack for us."

"Sure we do." Lina's devilish grin reappeared.

"Who?"

"You." Lina patted Amelia on the back.

"What? I'm not a hacker!" Amelia protested.

"You're good with computers."

"That's not the same thing!"

"Sure it is. C'mon Amelia I'm sure even in your perfect cookie cutter world you still rebelled a bit when you were younger. Being a big computer nerd as you are I find it very hard to believe that you spent your rebellious years doing vandalism or stealing."

Amelia shifted uncomfortably where she stood. "Why does everyone suddenly have a rebellious past? Can't it be possible that I was just a good kid?"

Lina glared at Amelia. "Everyone is a little bit rebellious when they're a child. If not hacking you must have done something else."

"Fine!" Amelia surrendered. "Maybe I tried hacking… once or twice a long time ago. But that doesn't mean I'm an expert and know what the heck to do!"

"Sure you do Amelia. You know why?"

Amelia shook her head.

"Because I believe in you. Now get your butt in the computer chair and start hacking!"

Sighing in defeat Amelia assumed her spot in front of the computer.

Lina grinned in triumphant. She knew damn well that Amelia was once a hacker, and a good hacker at that. Lina did extensive background work on all her potential employees. It's not that Lina cared about criminal records; she just wanted to be prepared for unexpected things. Plus useful things like a history of hacking was a bonus in situations like this.

"I just want it to be on the record that I don't want to be doing this and that you Miss Lina are making me do it. Therefore if I get caught you're taking the blame for this." Amelia announced as she started.

"Yeah, yeah stop your whining and start working." Lina badgered Amelia while standing right behind her.

"Well this is going to take a little while. So would please stop hovering over my shoulder? It's ruining my concentration." Amelia huffed. Though she was putting up a front of discontent about the situation, Amelia was actually secretly thrilled to get a chance to do some hacking again. Ever since her father caught her hacking when she was 12 she had been forbidden to even go near a computer. It wasn't until she proved that she was a good girl that she been given her computer privileges back. Amelia wanted be a good girl, but deep down you can't ignore those mischievous tendencies deep inside. Hacking was an art to Amelia and a thrill. She loved the feeling of being able to breech the toughest security locked computers. Not because of the information they held, but because of the challenge.

"Okay Amelia. So I guess we have to figure out what to do in the mean time." Lina sat in her chair.

"Well we can prep for our job tomorrow." Sylphiel suggested.

Filia rolled her eyes. "Did you even find any special information on the house?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "No, not a single bad event has ever seemed to have happened to or around that house. And no reports of anything strange prior to this families' experiences." Sylphiel explained.

"Probably just a nervous family that hasn't gotten used to the creaks of an old home. Mostly likely it's just figments of their imagination." Filia scoffed.

Lina frowned. "Just because there was no previous supernatural activities recorded there doesn't mean there wasn't any before. The other residents might not have reported it. A lot of people think that they are crazy for believing in ghosts. Maybe the other residents were afraid they wouldn't be taken seriously. And you never know, maybe it's not the house that is haunted, maybe it's the family."

Sylphiel shuddered. "That's creepy."

"It is, and it does happen. You get a particularly stubborn spectre that encounters a family and for whatever reason it decides to abandon what it is haunting. And then it starts haunting the family instead. So even if the family moves the spectre follows them to their new home and haunts them there. Take Slimer for example. He's haunting us." Lina pointed out. "I'm sure if moved to another building and got a new car that he would still follow us around at work. It's hard to say what attracts a spirit to a person. Places are easy to explain. Like it's the spirits home or where they died yada yada, but people are a completely different story. Unless this is a ghost that is haunting a loved one there is no real reason to explain why all ghosts haunting people would want to haunt people. Slimer likes us that's why he sticks around, but maybe other spectres haunt people for sinister reasons. Like out of spite for living in a home that originally belong to the spirit."

"So what you're saying Lina is that I shouldn't be so quick to assume things." Filia responded a very bored voice. Lina going into ghostly lectures wasn't an uncommon thing at work.

"That's right. When I die I plan on haunting Vinny's All You Can Eat Buffet."

Amelia frowned in confusion and looked over to her boss. "Why would you want to haunt that place for?"

"To terrorize the customers and ruin Vinny's business." Lina explained.

"Why would you want to do something mean like that?"

"Lina's banned from that restaurant. It seems Lina's large appetite was too much for Vinny's buffet and she was declared bad for business. So Vinny had her thrown out." Filia interjected.

"Oh. I really don't think you get a big say on what area you end up haunting Miss Lina." Amelia mused.

"We'll see about that."

Sylphiel chuckled. "Lina isn't the only one that was banned from that restaurant. Gourry was too."

"That's right." Filia donned a mischievous smile. "You know speaking of Gourry…"

Sylphiel cringed, she knew by Filia's voice she didn't like were this was going.


	12. Chapter 12

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twelve

By Relm

"You know Sylphiel, Gourry was so disappointed that you weren't there today." Filia said with a smug smile.

Sylphiel went red in the face. "What exactly did he say?"

Filia's grin grew larger. "That he thought you were going to there. And that he was hoping to talk to you because he wanted to ask you out on a romantic date."

"He did not say that!" Sylphiel flustered.

"Oh yes he did. Just ask Amelia that is exactly what he said."

Sylphiel shot a look at Amelia who was so engrossed with what she was doing on the computer screen that she wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about. "Well Amelia is that true?"

"What? Yeah sure whatever." Amelia mumbled.

Sylphiel's face turned a darker shade of red. "No that's not true you two are lying!"

"Okay maybe I might lie but Amelia almost never lies."

Sylphiel was going to make a remark to that when the phone started ringing.

"I bet that's Gourry right now to ask you out for a date." Filia mused.

Sylphiel glared at Filia and answered the phone. "Hello this is Ghost Slayers, Sylphiel speaking what can I do for you today?" Once she heard the other voice on the phone she paled. "Officer Gaberieve, how are you?"

Filia laughed out loud and would have commented if Lina hadn't dragged her out of the room.

"Filia leave Sylphiel alone. We have work to do. You know the stuff we get paid for? Now c'mon."

"Okay Lina. Let's pack. What kind of equipment do you want to pack?"

"Well we still have most of our equipment in the car, so we'll use that. It's more of a decision on whether or not we all are going to go. Because if we are we'll need to pack one more pack." Lina surmised.

"With no visual confirmation and only minor physical activity I'd wager that it's not a giant threat. I don't see why we all would need to go. Plus it might be a good idea to have someone stay behind to answer the phone and baby sit Zelgadis."

"Chances are he'll follow us to wherever we go."

"Well I'm sure if you ask him nicely he'll stay at GS HQ. He seems to like you Lina."

"Who wouldn't?" Lina smirked. "I'm just so darn loveable. But all kidding aside as much as Amelia isn't going to like me for this, I think I'll want her to stay behind again. I have a feeling Zelgadis' computer is going to be harder to crack then a normal one."

"You know I love techy tools we use but some days I think we could do jobs faster and make more money if we had a piece of the spiritual cleansing market."

Lina shook her head. "No way I'll ever go for that. Even is we hired on a professional shaman, priest or occult specialist as part of out as part of our crew. I'm not disputing the effectiveness of it, but it's just too risky. Back when I hadn't formally formed the company and when I was operating from my home I had this job at an old house that was supposed to have been 'cleansed' by a spiritual guru. But the idiot was a novice and got his symbols wrong and instead of forcing the spirits out of the house it became a magnet for the over worldly. And these were some very nasty violent spirits. The owner of the house wanted to sell the place buy he couldn't sell it haunted as it was."

"How did the job go?"

"Terrible. I ended up with a dislocated shoulder and a couple bruised ribs and I only got rid of one of the masses. Back then I didn't have the equipment as well made as they are now, so they shorted out a couple more times then I would have liked. But needless to say I didn't get paid for the job. Though the guy offered to sell the house really cheap to me. I even considered buying it for use of the Ghost Slayers Headquarters."

"So why did you pick this place instead? Was the house in worse condition?"

"No the house was in great condition. The police station was cheaper. Plus the worst injury I've ever gotten here is Slime in my eyes. This place has more charm." Lina patted the wall and more plaster fell from the ceiling.

"Yeah, charm." Filia said while coughing from the plaster dust.

"But back to my point I'd rather use science to deal with spectres instead of charms and ritual cleansing."

"Yeah that's probably right. Anyway it might be a good idea to see how the chamber is doing. I'm surprised with the cost of our electric bill the police has raided the place in search of a grow-op." Filia laughed.

"Yeah is old Bill still there or did he finally move on?"

"Bill moved on yesterday."

"That's a relief." Bill was the spirit they got on their last job. He was a stubborn poltergeist that Lina wasn't sure would ever move on. Even though their company is called 'Ghost Slayers' the ghosts aren't actually 'slayed'. Originally Lina made a ghost containment unit to contain the ghosts but when she played with the electrical components she found out that the ghosts reacted to the frequencies. It actually relaxed them and some were so content that they let go of their grievances and move on to the next world. Since then Lina modified the container and turned it into a chamber. A sort of waiting room for spirits.

On the way to the ghost chamber Zelgadis joined Filia and Lina.

"Hi Zelgadis do you want to see what we do with the ghosts we catch?" Lina showed him the chamber while Filia checked the machine.

The chamber looked like a glass room with wires and that lined the bottom of the outside.

"We take these metal boxes and put ghosts in them. The boxes go into this here." Lina showed Zelgadis the machine at what would be the door of the chamber. "The ghost is transferred to this specially powered room that emits certain kinds of electric fields. The ghost's bodiless souls resonate with the currents making them calmer. The goal is to make them as relaxed and as peaceful as we can so that they will crossover. Most poltergeist and angry spirits are full of negative emotion and that prevents them from carrying on to the next life. That traps them here on this plane of existence when they shouldn't be here anymore. But you're not a ghost as far as we can tell so we're not about to put you in here." Lina said with a smile.

"Everything looks good Lina, it should be fine for tomorrow if we need it."

"That's good."

Zelgadis for whatever reason seemed in a trance while looking at the transfer machine. He reached out to touch it but did so hesitantly. It was like he wanted to touch it but was afraid to do so.

"What's he doing?" Filia looked to Lina.

"I don't know."

Zelgadis' finger tips made contact with the metal and all of a sudden jolts of electricity shot out from the machine and coursed through Zelgadis. His eyes went wide and his mouth hung open with a silent scream.

"Filia turn it off!" Lina pleaded.

"I did it's not responding!"

The lights flickered as the machine transferred currents of electricity through Zelgadis who was in very obvious pain.

"Filia!" Lina screamed. "TURN IT OFF!" She went to pull Zelgadis away and was amazed when her hands actually grasped something solid. She pulled with all her might and Zelgadis' fingers lost contact with the machine and the two of them fell to the floor with a loud thud.

The machine stopped pulsing electricity and settle back to normal.

Lina immediately went to Zelgadis to see if he was okay and was shocked by what she saw.

Zelgadis whom before looked like a transparent ghost was now flickering. One moment he looked solid and real like a living person and then he looked like a ghost again. He kept flickering back and forth between the two like a light bulb flickering between on and off. But then his body stopped flickering and settle back to his transparent state once more.

"Zelgadis are you okay?" Lina went to touch Zelgadis on the shoulder and as expected her hand went right through him. 'I touched him before. How is that possible?'

"I think so." Zelgadis spoke in a soft voice.

Filia and Lina's jaws dropped in surprised. A spirit that once was forced to silence could speak once more.


	13. Chapter 13

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirteen

By Relm

"Did he just… talk?" Filia asked in a quiet whisper.

"I did." Zelgadis said more to himself than to Filia. There was a strange expression on his face. He seemed very confused but also kinda happy.

"Filia it's the electricity isn't like the pencil test right?" Lina asked trying to make sense of everything.

"I think so."

Zelgadis' face fell. "So that means it won't last."

"We don't know that for sure. But let's not waste time. Zelgadis do you remember what happened to you?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "I can't remember anything. The first thing I remember is meeting you on the street."

"Do you know why you were haunting Sailune Publishing?"

"No. You guys are the first thing I remembered. So that's why I followed you to this place. I don't know anything." Zelgadis put his face in his hands. "I don't know if I'm dead or alive."

Lina frowned. She was hoping to get more information than this. "Why did you touch the machine?"

"I don't know, I just felt like I should. Is it supposed to shock people like that?"

"No." Filia explained. "That was probably you. Electricity seems to be the key."

"I feel more aware. Before things felt... foggy." Zelgadis tried to make sense of all the thoughts floating around his head. There were memories that he knew where there in the back in his mind though he just couldn't reach it.

"You were kinda spacey."

"Yeah. Tell me what is that green thing that floats around this place?"

"Slimer. He's a ghost but I'll be damned if I can tell you what he was before he died. The best I can figure is that some ghosts can change their appearance like what they are wearing and such. I guess that's what Slimer wants to look like." Lina had spent a lot of time studying Slimer to figure out why he was so different. But it always ended up just giving her a headache rather than answers.

"He seems nice but very very odd."

"Why did you avoid that drawing I did from the vision?" Lina realized she was asking more questions then she should, but she was afraid that Zelgadis would go all spacey and she wanted answers.

"Looking at it made me feel ill. I don't know why I just felt sick in the stomach. Which is weird because clearly I don't have a body. Which supports the theory that I'm dead. And if I'm dead where is my body?" Zelgadis' face was getting gloomier and gloomier.

"What happened?" Amelia and Sylphiel came busting into the room. "The lights were flickering and we heard yelling."

"Zelgadis kinda electrocuted himself. He's okay though and now he can talk." Lina explained.

"We should zap him again." Filia suggested.

Zelgadis nodded in agreement.

"No we're not going to do that!" Lina declared. "It obviously hurts him. And it could be dangerous!"

"If I'm dead who cares? What I'll just die again? And I can deal with the pain." Zelgadis insisted pouting like a little child.

"No we don't know if you're really dead. It could really kill you or any chances of figuring out what happened to you and this situation you're in." Lina said very sternly.

"But I want to stay conscious of things. I want to be able to still talk." He protested sadly.

"Alright if you start to lose your ability to speak or go off into la la land we'll jolt you with more electricity." Lina bargained.

"Well it's not like I can argue with you. My hands go through things." As a demonstration Zelgadis put his hand through the very machine that just shocked him.

"Zelgadis!" Lina screeched. "Are you crazy?" Lina went to swat his hand away forgetting he can't touch him. "Are you trying to piss me off?" She yelled when he withdrew his hand.

"No."

"Well how did you know it wasn't going to electrocute you again?"

Zelgadis frowned with puzzlement. "You know I'm not sure. I just knew it wouldn't."

"The power is off Lina." Filia held up the plug for Lina to see. "I cut the power when Zelgadis first started frying. But the current wouldn't stop."

Lina frowned and glared at Zelgadis. "Okay Zelgadis I don't want you trying and zapping yourself okay?"

Zelgadis grumbled while repeatedly putting his hand through and out of the floor as if to test his transparency. "How does Slimer move and touch things?"

"Ghosts can touch things if they concentrate hard enough. But it's usually very taxing to them. Poltergeists or very enraged spirits can move things more easily but they can't control what they are moving. It's more a tornado of rage. But Slimer is pretty much the exception to every rule. He seems to have boundless energy. But Slimer like all ghosts can't directly touch a living person, he can touch other ghosts though." Sylphiel explained.

"Now that's the party's over how about we all get back to work? Amelia how are you doing with the hacking?"

"Haven't gotten in yet. Mister Zelgadis has some top notch firewalls."

"Okay we'll keep at it. If you don't get in today you can continue with it tomorrow morning."

"You mean I have to stay behind again?" Amelia whined.

Lina nodded. "Well someone has to baby sit Zelgadis here. I doubt our clients would be too happy with us brining ghosts when we're supposed to be getting rid of them."

Zelgadis frowned when Lina said 'ghost'. "Can't we refer to me as something other than a 'ghost'? If you seem to think I'm still alive then why continue using that word to reference me? And I don't need a babysitter."

"Okay no g-word and well look at it this way; with no one here Slimer would be your only company."

"Point taken."

"I wonder what would happen if we shot Slimer with electricity?" Amelia mused out loud.

"Nothing really. I tried that once. He likes the currents but they don't seem to hurt him." Filia explained with a shrug.

"Why were you shocking Slimer for?" Amelia exclaimed in horror.

"He was annoying me."

As if he knew they were talking about him, Slimer opened the door to join the party. His grin was wide and slime was drooling from his mouth.

"Speak of the devil."

Slimer formed green devil horns on his head.

Zelgadis frowned. "Though he looks ridiculous like that I'm jealous that he can do that and I can't."

Slimer then formed a halo over his head, which was actually pretty gross. The ring formed below his 'skin' and then separated from his head and floated above it.

"Show off." Zelgadis shook his head.

Slimer stuck his tongue out at Zelgadis. Which was also gross, as he actually stuck his tongue, out of his body.

"Slimer quit that! I think I'm going to be ill." Sylphiel put her hand over her eyes.

"Amelia take Slimer back with you to the computer." Lina ushered them out the door.

"So Sylphiel," Filia started with a mischievous grin, "what did Officer Gaberieve want?"

Sylphiel started blushing. "He was trying to call someone else, he dialled the wrong number."

"That sounds weak. I bet he was calling to ask you out but he lost his nerve."

"Filia! He doesn't like me like that." Sylphiel insisted.

"Hey Sylphiel do you have the address for our job tomorrow?" Lina interrupted.

"Yes why?"

"I want to go scope out the place and do some prelim readings. And you can come with us Zelgadis if you want."

Zelgadis shrugged. "Sure."

...

Three of the four Ghost Slayers and one transparent being piled into the Ghost Slayersmobile and started driving towards the hunted house that they would be investigating the next day. The drive was nice, traffic was good and the sun was shining.

Lina smiled as she drove along the residential area of Sailune. Constantly driving through the main city with all the crazy drivers and gridlock traffic it was refreshing to drive where it was nice. But one thing was nagging at Lina as she approached the neighbourhood of where the job they were going to do was at. It wasn't till she pulled up to the street did she figure out why. "Oh my god that's the house!" Lina exclaimed pulling over in front of an old house with a very wild looking lawn full of weeds.

"Actually it's the house next door Lina not this one." Sylphiel corrected double checking the address that Amelia had written down for her.

"Filia and I were talking about this house earlier." Lina explained point to the house.

"Oh this is that house?" Filia exclaimed while turning on her scanner. Its' readings were off the chart.

"What's so special about it and why is it so cold all of a sudden?" Zelgadis shivered while rubbing his arms. "Wait why am I cold? That doesn't make sense."

"Yeah that is weird, but it is cold. That house there was one of my first ghost jobs. There was too many ghosts in that place any my equipment was spacey at best at that time. Only got rid of one. The person who 'cleansed' the house before me botched the job and turned the place into a ghost magnet. At that time there must have been like a hundred, now I don't even want to guess how many are in there."

"Well that would explain why our client's house is being haunted. Probably not enough space left in the ghost magnet house that they are starting to haunt next door." Sylphiel mused with a frown. "So even if we get rid of the ghosts haunting out client's home more ghosts will just show up later on. You know that means."

Lina grinned with dollar signs in her eyes. "Yeah we'll have business for years to come. We should leave our card on the doorstep of the other house next to the magnet. It will only be a matter of time before they'll be fed up enough to with their ghosts and will have to call us."

"No Lina that's dishonest! We have to tell our clients why they are being haunted."

"Says who?"

Sylphiel was going to respond when suddenly a dismembered head appeared right in front of her. "AHHHHH!" She screamed.

The ghost either screamed to mock Sylphiel or in fright and then vanished.

"I think it's a good idea to get back to HQ, now." Filia suggested.

"Yeah we stay too long they're bound to haunt the car." Lina started up the engine and pulled back onto the street.

The further away they got from the street the warmer it got in the car.

The drive back to HQ was uneventful (aside from Sylphiel's constant nagging) and Slimer was in the parking lot ready to greet them. Whether they wanted a greeting or not.

"Yuck Slimer! You're so gross!" Filia flung green slime off her hands.

"Lina we should say something to our clients. It's not right." Sylphiel continued to scold Lina.

"No I'm not going to say anything."

"I'll tell Amelia if you don't." She threatened.

Lina cringed. Sylphiel's nagging was bad enough but listening to Amelia go on was like fingers on a chalk board. "Alright I'll comprise. We do the job tomorrow and I'll contact the owner of the ghost magnet. See if I can get him to hire us. I'm sure he might be desperate enough to rehire me. Of course we'll have to charge much more."

"We'll have to figure out what is making it into a magnet. Otherwise the ghosts will keep coming. And we're going to need more containment boxes." Filia frowned. "I've got the materials to make maybe ten more, but that's it."

"Okay Filia go start on that. Sylphiel open the trunk of the car. I think we should check the power levels of the phase guns. We might have to deal with more than one ghost tomorrow." Lina threw the keys to Sylphiel and checked the scanners in the backseat.

Sylphiel opened the car trunk and screamed.

Lina ran over to the trunk. "What's wrong Sylphiel?" She looked and saw what had startled her. That very same bodiless ghost that had frightened Sylphiel earlier was laying in the trunk of the car. "Great, and we're not even going to be paid for dealing with this one." Lina shook her head.

Slimer came flying over in a flash to greet the new ghost. He went to hug the ghost head but it screamed and vanished.

"Is it gone?"

"Don't know." Lina turned on one of the scanners in her hands and scanned the room. "Well the only ghost I can scan is Slimer. Either it's gone or it took off to another part of the building."

Off in the distance Lina and Sylphiel heard Amelia scream.

"That answers that one. Let's go."


	14. Chapter 14

_Author's Notes: This is the first new official part of this fic after the sea of chaos swallowed up RSBI. I know I had previously stated that I didn't know if Xellos was going to appear in this fanfic, but you know what? I've decided to throw him in. I don't know how his part is going to play out in this fic, or how the fic is even going to play out, but there will be some Xellos/Filia action eventually. ^_~_

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fourteen

By Relm

With guns a totting Lina and company went upstairs to where Amelia was.

Zelgadis was actually quite excited to see Lina 'slay' the ghost. In the back of his muddled mind he vaguely remembered a little bit about the Ghost Slayers. Though he had followed Lina and everyone and seen a little bit about what they did, he himself was still curious. Of course previously he had been foggy in the head so he didn't quite grasp everything that he had been seeing. He was very curious how the ghosts would react. 'What an exciting line of work.' He mentally mused with just a tinge of jealousy. His memory of his 'life' before being trapped in a ghost like body was very fuzzy and spotty he was sure that it wasn't full of excitement. 'Until I got turned into whatever I am now.' Of course the fact that he could remember anything should have been encouraging but he was already riding the train down into gloomsville.

Lina watched Zelgadis as they went upstairs. His face was a kaleidoscope of emotions. 'Guess I'd be conflicted too if I were in his shoes.'

"Miss Lina!" Amelia screamed from behind the office doors.

Lina sighed. "We're coming, just a moment." Lina opened the door. "Are you okay?"

"No you took all the charged packs!" Amelia screeched trying feebly to zap the ghost. But it wasn't just a ghost head anymore. It was a headless ghost holding its dismembered head in his left arm.

Once the ghost 'saw' Sylphiel it went to her and tried to grope her butt. "Eeek!" Sylphiel screamed. Not that the ghost was actually touching it, but it was disturbing and it made her butt feel cold. And that was never a welcome feeling.

"The ghosts always seem to love Sylphiel." Filia joked while laughing.

"Don't laugh, do something!" Sylphiel protested feebly trying to swat away the ghost's hand while running away from it.

Lina charged up her gun and blasted the ghost. It made a soundless scream as it convulsed from the current.

Filia slid the open ghost containment box towards the ghost. "Now Lina!"

Lina grinned as she guided the stunned ghost down toward the box.

The box became a black hole sucking in the gun rays and the ghost's 'body' into the container. The box made beeping noises as it shut steaming with cool vapours.

"It's cold." Zelgadis observed putting his hands through the box.

"Don't do that!" Lina tried to swat Zelgadis' hand away but again she went through him. 'What the hell is with this guy and poking everything?'

"Are you afraid I'll get sucked in?" Zelgadis wondered.

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out either!" Lina shook her hands up in exasperation. "Don't go touching everything you see! We don't know how things affect you!"

"But him touching things are what got him speaking again." Filia pointed out while Zelgadis nodded his head in agreement.

Lina glared at both them.

"What now? Are you going to put the ghost in that room?" Zelgadis asked while looking and not touching the box before him.

"That would be the plan." Filia donned gloves and picked up the freezing cold container.

"Can I watch?" Zelgadis looked hopefully at Lina.

Lina glared in response.

"I won't touch anything I swear!" Zelgadis insisted. "I just want to watch."

Lina sighed. "Fine. But I'm going to watch you like a hawk."

"What's the point? It's not like you can stop him if he does do anything." Filia rationalized.

"Shut up."

...

Inside the ghost purgatory room all was still and quiet. The only sounds evident in the room were the slight buzzing sound of the machine. Filia led the way into the room with Zelgadis and Lina following her.

Lina flicked the power switch charging the unit up. "Okay it's live. So no touching Zel." Lina warned.

Zelgadis whom had been transfixed by the machine was broken by his trance. "Zel?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Filia snickered.

Lina shot a glare at the blond woman. It would have been more effective if she wasn't blushing. "Yeah I kinda gave you a nickname. You didn't seem to protest earlier when I was calling you that."

Zelgadis tapped his chin in thought. "You did call me that before didn't you?"

"Zel seems like a natural nickname for you. What did your friends call you?"

Zelgadis took off his glasses and put them in his pocket. "As far as I can remember, which isn't much, I think I was called Mr. Greywars or Zelgadis. Maybe I didn't have any friends...?" That thought only mildly bothered Zelgadis. Sure admitting you probably didn't have any friends was sad but at the same time he couldn't remember much anyway. 'No sense dwelling on something I can't even remember to rationalize getting upset about.'

"Or your friends could just respect you too much." Lina suggested.

"I guess that would mean Lina's very disrespectful." Filia said with a smirk.

"How about we put the ghost in the room?" Lina stomped her foot. 'I'm the boss god damnit! If anyone deserves some respect it's me!"

Filia giggled as she loaded up the box into the machine.

Lots of lights, bells and beeps went off as the ghost was transferred into the waiting room. The ghost sat down against the glass wall putting his head back where it was supposed to go. As expected his head re-attached to his body. He smiled as he closed his eyes and appeared to go to sleep.

Zelgadis was genuinely impressed by the technology. 'Lina must be quite smart to come up with such contraptions...' He dared to look over to the redheaded Ghost Slayer.

As she had promised Lina was glaring at Zelgadis very intently. "You're not thinking about touching the machine again are you?" Lina demanded.

Zelgadis shook his head. "No, no I was just wondering how you came up with this technology."

"Trial and error mostly." Lina flicked off the switches. "Originally I wasn't going to do this for a living. I was trying to discover the next great scientific breakthrough. I wanted to examine ghosts, prove their definite existence and get famous for it. But I wasn't well received by the scientific community. They wildly mocked me and refused to believe any of my findings. I became the laughing stock of my peers. And the university that I worked at didn't appreciate how I was 'wasting' my funds and thus I was canned. But I couldn't let the science go to waste. And turning a profit is always nice." Lina let herself think about all the money she could make, that is until another slab of plaster fell from the ceiling dashing Lina's daydreams. She let out a sad sigh.

"Aren't you afraid of this place coming down on you?" Zelgadis asked looking very concerned.

"Nah." Lina laughed it off.

Zelgadis turned to Filia. "So how did you Filia, Sylphiel and Amelia end up working for Lina?"

"I was a professor at the same school as Lina." Filia started off. "And I was there until I was fired for a completely stupid reason."

Lina leaned in close to Zelgadis and whispered, "She got caught beating up another teacher. It was already her twelve warning."

"That garbage deserved it! I should have filed a sexual harassment suit on him!" Filia huffed.

Lina rolled her eyes. "Xellos giving you flowers, candy and asking you out on dates hardly counts as sexual harassment."

"The flowers he charged to my credit card. The candy was either filled with hot peppers or bugs. And the date proposals were grossly inappropriate and suggestive, and while I was trying to teach my class! Of course there was also all the calls at all hours at the night, the love letters he posted on the school bulletin board, the thousand pictures of him he plastered all throughout my office and classroom-"

"Okay I get the picture!" Zelgadis begged her to stop. "So he's an annoying creep! Does he bother you anymore?"

"No because the smug bastard is now teaching my class! Why if he ever shows his stupid grinning face here why I'll-!" Filia screamed in frustration.

"So what about Sylphiel and Amelia?" Zelgadis quickly changed the subject.

"Sylphiel was my teaching assistant." Lina explained. "And Amelia was one of my grad students. I don't know why they both wanted to work here they could have done other things but I'm glad to have them." Lina grinned. Though they were an odd bunch they did their jobs and had fun while doing it.

"Isn't Amelia's father the mayor of Sailune?"

Lina nodded.

"Well couldn't you hit him up for money to help fix this place up?" Zelgadis pointed up as another piece of plaster fell.

"I would love to but Amelia's pride is just too high. She feels that she needs to prove to her father that she can make it on her own and she doesn't need handouts. Phil sends cheques every so often but somehow Amelia always gets to them first and rips them up. And apparently the banks don't cash ripped up cheques that have been tapped back together." Lina admitted sheepishly. "Anyway let's get back to work."

...

"...and that should take care of things." Lina summarized the plans for tomorrow's job.

Amelia frowned at Lina. "Miss Lina what are you hiding?"

"What makes you think I'm hiding anything?" Lina laughed nervously.

"Because Miss Sylphiel looks very uneasy." Amelia pointed out motioning to Sylphiel whom appeared to be sweating bullets.

Lina glared at Sylphiel. "Okay fine. The reason the house is haunted is because of the house next door. It was my first job before I had perfected my equipment. The owners had previously got an amateur to 'cleanse' the house and messed it up. Now it's a ghost magnet. I only got rid of one ghost and I didn't get paid for it." Lina explained.

Amelia looked very cross. "So what were you going to do Miss Lina? Do the job and not warn the people about the house next door? That's dishonest! If we don't deal with that mega haunted place our client's home is going to be haunted over and over again!" Amelia protested. "Look what happened to our car! You just drove it by the place and a ghost hopped in and hitched a ride here. Imagine what the other people in the neighbourhood are dealing with!"

"Which is why we make sure to hand out our business cards when we finish the job." Lina rubbed the back of her neck with a guilty smile.

"Miss Lina!" Amelia glared at her.

"Couldn't you leave something at the house to repel ghosts?" Zelgadis suggested.

Lina shook her head. "Ghosts aren't like mosquitoes. You can't just light a Citronelle candle and expect them to stay away. Yes you can buy stupid charms that can repel some spirits. But those things are very weak and only work on the weakest of spectres. Like aimlessly wandering ghosts or family members trying to reach out their loved ones. You know the kinds you'd like to keep around. But they don't work on nasty ghosts like poltergeists. It just pisses them off fuelling their rampages. And in this case I wouldn't suggest any silly charms." Lina explained.

"Miss Lina what are we going to do? We can't do nothing."

"Okay fine let me do some calls." Lina muttered grabbing the phone. She wanted to do this after tomorrow's job. 'May as well get this over with now anyway...'

...

"Okay then fine." Lina muttered hanging up the phone. She'd been on the phone for almost an hour trying to track down someone to talk about the mega haunted house. It had changed hands a few times. Which Lina found surprising, as she didn't even think it was possible to sell that house as haunted as it was. 'I guess if the price is right you can sell anything.'

"Well?" Amelia prompted Lina.

"The new owners don't believe in ghosts and refuse to hire us. Even though they are desperately trying to sell the house." Lina was disappointed. She had hoped they would get hired. There was so much money to be made in that house. 'Could have made a killing.'

"So what do we do now?"

Zelgadis snapped his fingers. "I got it; you do the job and explain the situation. You tell the clients that they are being haunted because of their next door neighbours. And that you contacted them to get them to hire you guys but they refused. Despite the fact they are being irresponsible and causing the whole neighbourhood to suffer by doing nothing about the problem."

Lina smiled with dollar signs in her eyes. "Zelgadis Greywars you are a genius! If I could I'd kiss you!" Lina exclaimed.

Zelgadis blushed.

"How does that help?" Sylphiel frowned.

"If we tell our clients whose fault the haunting is they will talk around the neighbourhood. And then the neighbourhood will put the squeeze on the mega haunted house owners. They will have no choice but to hire us! And that means hello money!" Lina clapped her hands in glee. "With that settled tell me Amelia did you get anything interesting out of Zel's computer?"

Amelia frowned. "I got in even with his impressive firewalls. But I didn't get any scans of the book covers and the stuff I got looks like chicken scratch to me."

"Maybe I can help; it's my research as it is. Even if I can't remember much right now it might jog something in my noodle to look at it. I might remember something useful." Zelgadis offered looking at the computer screen.

Amelia opened up some of the files she snagged for Zelgadis to se.

Once the files were open Zelgadis tried to look at them. But that familiar feeling of pain, nausea and discontentment set in and it made Zelgadis recoil. He fell to the ground and rolled into a ball. His limbs started to fade.

"Zel?" Lina got to the ground to look at Zelgadis. "Amelia close those files!"

Once Amelia complied Zelgadis seemed to improve.

"First the library, then the drawing, and now this. We need to find that damn book. It's got to be the answer!" Lina decided. "Zel are you feeling better?"

Zelgadis nodded. He tried to say something but no words came out of his mouth. He looked at Lina wordlessly pleading her to help him.

"Fine. Let's go give you a good shock Zelgadis." Lina shook her head.

Zelgadis smiled pathetically.

"Only person I know that willingly wants to get electrocuted..." Lina muttered.


	15. Chapter 15

Ghost Slayers

Chapter Fifteen

By Relm

After Zelgadis was shocked Lina put the packs in their chargers. "That should do it. They should be nice and charged for tomorrow."

"Umm... Miss Lina?" Amelia spoke up.

"Yes Amelia?"

"About tonight... What's going to happen to Mister Zelgadis?"

Lina frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well where is he going to stay the night when we all go?"

Zelgadis had wondered about that too. "What does Slimer do when you leave?"

"He stays here. I hope he sleeps. I don't want to think about what sort of things he could be doing." Lina shuddered. Seeing Slimer dress in drag was one thing, but she knew damn well that Slimer could do just about anything he wanted. 'That little green freak better not be wearing my spare clothes when I'm not here.'

"So I should stay here...?" Zelgadis mussed.

"I do have a bed set up in one of the spare rooms. You know if I'm tired and want to nap... when it's slow." Lina explained laughing nervously.

Amelia, Sylphiel and Filia all glared at her.

"Oh shut up I'm the boss! I should be able to nap if I want to!" Lina snapped at her employees. "Anyway you could sleep there if you want. That is if you need sleep."

"I guess so..." Zelgadis did notice that he was feeling tired. "Do ghosts sleep?"

"I'm sure they do in some form." Lina suggested. "I thought we weren't going to use the 'g' word."

Zelgadis lowered his head. "Well I don't know. I feel tired like it's time to go to bed, but I haven't eaten or drank a thing all day and I'm not hungry or thirsty. More points to support the ghost theory."

Lina resist the urge to zap Zelgadis just so she could smack him. "Anyway Mister doom and gloom, are you going to be okay staying here then?"

"Yeah I think it will be alright." Zelgadis said feeling uneasy. Forgetting most of your life and waking up a ghost was a stressful thing. At the very least if you have to stay somewhere it should be some place you're familiar with. And at that moment Ghost Slayers was the most present thing in his memory. But it was unsettling to think about staying in the building all alone with just Slimer to keep you company. 'Don't be such a baby!' Zelgadis scolded himself. "So where's this bed?"

...

Zelgadis and Slimer watched Lina and the others leave with their cars. As the last car left the parking lot Zelgadis let out a sad sight. This was all so confusing for him and suddenly he felt very needy for company. 'At least I have Slimer.' Of course as Zelgadis thought this he looked around and noticed that Slimer was nowhere in sight. "Slimer?" Zelgadis called out. There wasn't any slimy goo to point Zelgadis in the direction the little green ghost went. 'Where did he go?'

...

Lina kept looking at her rear view mirror as she drove getting further and further away from Ghost Slayers HQ. She felt guilty leaving Zelgadis like that. 'The poor guy's life is a mess. He can't remember much of who he is, he's turned into something like a ghost and when he gets close to getting an answer to explain what happened to him he starts to disappear. Probably feels kinda abandoned right now with all of us taking off like that.' That thought almost made her turn the car around. 'No Slimer is with him so he'll be fine.'

Lina kept driving till she reached her home. It was an old small apartment building. It only had twelve suites, four suites per each of the three floors. Each suite was a corner suit and Lina's was on the third floor.

Though the apartment was small and horribly outdated Lina still loved the place. The decor was so old that it was almost classic, filled with lots of worn wood. The stairs creaked loudly as you climbed them and everything had a musty old smell. It reminded Lina of old libraries.

"I'm home!" Lina called out once she entered her suite. She lived alone and didn't have any pets but still she felt compelled to announce her arrival. Maybe it was because she dealt with ghosts everyday that Lina never really felt alone. You never know when you might have a ghost hiding in your closet or bathroom. She'd had a couple follow her home from work. But that never bothered her much. Plus with how old the building was it just seemed likely that there could be ghosts haunting the place.

The first thing Lina did when she got inside her home was head straight for the kitchen. It's not that she didn't eat anything all day, but Lina ate more than a normal person and more regularly. So getting enough food to keep an army Lina started cooking.

...

Zelgadis frantically looked high and low for the little green ghost. Everywhere he looked he just couldn't find him. "Slimer?" He called out. This was very distressing for Zelgadis.

He kept going down the halls and in and out of doors. Zelgadis must have passed the utility closet like a hundred times till he noticed the slime on the doorknob.

Zelgadis poked his head through the door and saw Slimer asleep in a bucket. The ghost had a snot bubble blowing out of his nose and he was holding onto a mop as though it was a teddy bear.

At that moment Zelgadis felt pretty foolish. 'Why am I so afraid to be alone for?' He made his way over to the room with the bed was. It was a simple furnished room. There was a desk, a lamp and a bed. It looked comfy enough as Zelgadis hopped into it testing its' firmness amazed that he could do so. He laid down and got into a comfortable position closing his eyes as he tried to go to sleep.

_**CRASH!**_

Zelgadis' eyes shot right open at the sudden noise and disappeared.

...

After eating a large dinner Lina headed off to her room to get ready for bed. As she entered she didn't even notice a figure suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Zelgadis almost yelled in fright. One moment he was at Ghost Slayers the next he was in Lina's bedroom! He was going to say something until Lina started to unzip her Ghost Slayers jumpsuit slipping it off. He ducked down and got to the floor and sitting right at the foot of the bed.

Lina whom was near the head of her bed was unaware of her sudden visitor.

Zelgadis had no intensions to peek on Lina as she changed but he realized he was sitting facing the vanity mirror. And he could see Lina's reflection as she undressed. He willed himself not to look. But tried as he may he couldn't look away.

Under her Ghost Slayers jumpsuit Lina wore a tight white undershirt and a pair of tight black shorts. She stretched drawing attention to the fact that she was wearing a black lacy bra under that tight undershirt.

Zelgadis gulped. 'Look away. Look away Zelgadis.' But still his gaze failed to advert.

Rummaging around for nightwear Lina went about humming lost in her thoughts. Twice she almost spotted Zelgadis as she got ready.

Zelgadis was lucky that she didn't see him but that didn't calm him transparent heart. It beat wildly as he just starred at Lina's reflection in the mirror. 'If she sees me now she's going to think I'm a pervert.' Of course the idea of just leaving never crossed his mind. He seemed to have forgotten that he could go through walls.

Lina sat on her bed looking at herself in the mirror as she brushed her hair. Her legs hung at the edge of the bed dangling right in front of Zelgadis' face.

Zelgadis was frozen in place. He knew that if Lina looked down she would see him for sure. So he just sat there staring at Lina's calve muscles. 'She has nice legs...' He blushed despite being gripped with fear.

Lina jumped off her bed and took off her shirt.

Zelgadis' eyes were wide as he watched Lina remove her shirt. Her back was to the mirror but on an angle where Zelgadis could see some of that lacy bra.

Lina didn't give Zelgadis much time to dwell on the bra as she took it off and threw it haphazardly on the floor right by Zelgadis.

Zelgadis only saw Lina's bare back she wasn't angled in the way she was before. And quickly she put on her nightshirt. But of course Zelgadis couldn't help but stare at the bra by him. Zelgadis' nose bled as he passed out from his dirty thoughts.

...

Sunlight poured into Lina's bedroom as the morning made its' appearance. Lina groaned as she tried to shield her eyes from the light. 'Forgot to close the curtains again.' She gave up and sat up in her bed while stretching. Hopping off her bed she almost screamed at the site on her floor.

There was Zelgadis asleep on her floor on her throw rug right at the foot of her bed.

"What the hell?" Lina screeched.

"Huh?" Zelgadis woke with a start. He looked up at Lina with a deer and headlights look. "Lina I can explain!" He blushed bright red.

"What? What are you doing here?"

"Okay I was trying to sleep and there was this big crash noise. I guess I got spooked and I ended up here."

Lina's expression softened. 'I knew I should have gone back. Leaving him alone with just Slimer was a bad idea.' "So why did you decide to sleep on my floor? Why didn't you tell me you were here?"

Zelgadis didn't answer he just blushed a deeper red.

Lina glared at him and noticed her bra not too far from him. "You were in here the whole time I was changing?"

"Well seeing how you left your curtains open I'm sure your neighbours saw more than I did." Zelgadis laughed very nervously.

"And how much did you see?" Oh how she wanted to hit him at that moment.

"I didn't see you naked. I swear!" Zelgadis insisted.

"How much did you see?" Lina's voice was getting louder and louder.

"You were wearing shorts a shirt... Then you took off the shirt, and I might have seen part of you in the bra. Then you took off your bra, but I only saw your back! Honestly I'm not a pervert! I swear! I don't do things like this!" Zelgadis insisted. He had his head down waiting for an oncoming hit.

Lina would have hit him, but she couldn't. Unless she shocked him first. "Why the hell would you just hide there? Why didn't you say something?"

"I was too shocked; I don't know how I just appeared here. And then you were there and then you started undressing and I just blanked out and panicked! Then it was too late to say anything."

"So you just decided to sleep there and wait to surprise me in the morning?" Lina mentally looked for things she could use to zap Zelgadis with.

"No I passed out I think. I got a nose bleed. As I said I don't do perverted things like this and well... I think maybe it's been a while since I've dated a girl." He admitted embarrassedly.

"Nosebleed?" Lina blushed herself. She'd seen guys get all funny in the head from pretty girls but she never had that effect on guys. 'It really must have been a long time for him. Damn here I was all angry and now all I can think about is how damn cute he is. Why can't he be an ugly ghost like thing?' She cursed looking down. There on the rug under Zelgadis had what appeared to be a couple dried droplets of blood. "What the hell? That's real blood!"

Zelgadis looked in wonder. "Ghosts can't do that can they?"

"I don't know... But let's take the rug with us when we go to Ghost Slayers." Lina rolled up the small rug and tucked it under her arm.

"Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

Lina tried to glare at Zelgadis while blushing. "I'm still mad, but I've come to a decision. When we get you back to normal I'm going to beat the crap out of you."

Zelgadis laughed nervously. "I guess I have something to look forward to then. So we're not going to tell the others about what happened are we?"

"Oh we're telling them."

Zelgadis paled. "Why?"

"Because unless you can explain how your blood ended up on my bedroom area rug without telling them that you were peaking on me while changing, then we'll have to tell them. But I'll give you until we get to work to think of a plausible lie, and if it's good enough I just might go with it. So think hard Zel, real hard."

'I'm going to be labelled a pervert no matter what...' Zelgadis thought grimly.


	16. Chapter 16

_Author's Notes: Okay there Xellos is officially a part of this fanfic now. Xellos/Filia fans rejoice!_

Ghost Slayers

Chapter Sixteen

By Relm

During Lina's breakfast Zelgadis was amazed. He had never seen someone eat so much food. 'She's so skinny... where does she put it all?' Zelgadis didn't realize he was staring, that is until he noticed Lina was glaring at him.

"What?" She barked with her mouth full of food.

"Sorry. It's just, you're so small! How can you eat all that and not get sick?"

"I have a very high metabolism." Lina explained wolfing down the last bit of her food. "It's a family thing, we all eat a lot."

"Oh."

"I'm going to take a shower and get changed." Lina announced once she finished cleaning up. "You'd better not peek on me." Lina threatened.

Zelgadis blushed. "Really I didn't mean to last night! Honestly!"

Lina glared at him as she went into her room.

Zelgadis sighed. 'It doesn't matter what I do from now on. To her I'm just going to be that guy that peeked on her.'

Since he didn't have much to do Zelgadis decided to look around Lina's apartment. He scanned her book shelves seeing what books she had. To his delight he recognized some of the titles. 'I've read those books!' Faint memories in the back of his mind unfuzzed a bit revealing old forgotten tales. The more he looked the more he remembered. 'Either Lina and I have similar tastes in books or I just read everything.'

The DVD racks provided to be interesting too. Three whole columns were just romantic comedies, another three were horror and the last row was action/adventure movies. Zelgadis also recognized most of the titles too. Though he didn't remember watching all of them, just a few.

Moving away from the movies Zelgadis went to the walls. Lina had several water color paintings covering her walls. Though they were all different they all appeared to have the same signature. Sylphiel's. Lina also had an interesting collection of sculptures and pots.

Next Zelgadis looked at the photos. There were a lot of the Ghost Slayers crew, smiling. There were also a lot of pictures of Lina in various stages of her life. Zelgadis went to pick up a baby picture to take a closer look. 'She was a cute baby.' He mused.

"What are you looking at?" Lina asked coming back into the room towel drying her hair just wearing a bathrobe.

Zelgadis was startled by Lina's sudden appearance that he dropped the picture he had in his hands. The glass from the frame cracked as it made contact with the wood floor. "Oh no! Oh god Lina I'm sorry!"

Lina shrugged. "I've got tones of extra picture frames laying around. One of the hazards of working with ghosts, they tend to break things." Lina got out her broom and dustpan and started to sweep up the mess. "Wait a minute, you were holding the picture weren't you?" Lina realized after a moment.

"Yes I was!" Zelgadis responded in shock. 'I touched something... and without electricity!'

"Where you concentrating real hard on picking up the picture?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "No I just saw it and thought I wanted to see it more closely. And I picked it up like I would have if I was normal. Didn't even think about being a ghost. I just did it. I probably would have it still in my hands had you not startled me."

Lina grinned. "Well ghosts usually have to concentrate hard. Seeing how you didn't have to is another point to support the non-ghost theory. That and the blood."

Zelgadis was also happy about this. "Um... Lina, I thought you were going to change..." Zelgadis stated once he noticed exactly what Lina was wearing. "That doesn't seem like appropriate work attire."

Lina blushed. She had forgotten how revealing her robe was. 'Crap! I don't usually have guys over like this in the morning. Thank god I don't walk around naked.' "Ah, um I forgot to grab my hair dryer it's on the side table." Lina snatched the little machine and scampered back into her room.

Zelgadis didn't need to look in the mirror to know that he was blushing again. Knowing that he was still banned from Lina's room until she was ready Zelgadis sat on the couch and waited.

...

The drive to Ghost Slayers HQ was a quiet one. Both Lina and Zelgadis were pre-occupied with their thoughts. Ironically they were both thinking about the same thing. That damned missing book. Books don't just get up and disappear. But then again books don't usually have red misty hands reaching out to grab people.

Zelgadis let out a depressive sigh. 'It's starting to feel like I'll never be normal again.' He thought sadly. Though getting some of his awareness had been an initial blessing, now it was starting to feel like a curse. Because he was more aware the gravity of the situation he was in the more he was depressed by it. When his mind was muddled, he didn't seem to care about anything. He was happy in fact. Knowing what he was and what he was now didn't help things. It just made him long for what he was before turning into a ghost more.

"So did you think of a convincing story yet to explain the blood?" Lina asked Zelgadis breaking his trail of thought.

"No. I haven't." Zelgadis gulped. He had forgotten about it all together.

"We'll you lucky it's as embarrassing for me as it is you. Because I'll figure something out. So I won't tell them you're a closet pervert." Lina laughed.

Zelgadis blushed and glared at Lina. "I'm not a pervert!" He insisted.

"Yeah, yeah so you say." Of course Lina was only teasing Zelgadis. She knew that as unlikely as Zelgadis' story may have seemed that Zelgadis was telling the truth. 'He seems too green to be doing things like that anyway.' Lina thought about how her employees would react if she told them the whole story. 'Amelia would preach about abstaining from perversion and would rant about it for hours. Sylphiel would probably blush and not say a word. But Filia, Filia would go to town with it, irritating both me and Zel endlessly. Best not to tell them the truth.' "So what do you think you'll do when you're back to normal?"

"Isn't that like counting your chickens before they hatch?"

Lina flashed a triumphant grin at her transparent passenger. "Don't you worry, I'll get you back to normal I guarantee it. I never fail."

"Didn't you only get one ghost when you tried to clear that mega haunted house?"

Lina's smile faltered. "Alright almost never. But that was a little beyond my control as it is. Anyway, answer my question. What do you want to do?"

Zelgadis frowned as he thought hard about the question. "I guess it depends if I get my complete memory back. If I do and I'm perfectly happy with the way my life was before then I guess I'd just go back to what I did before."

"And if you don't get your memory back or you're not happy? What then?"

"I don't know."

"Well you could always work for me." Lina said all bright and cheerily.

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "You can't afford to fix your company building. How can you afford another employee on the payroll?"

"Well you know what they say, one good customer breeds four more. Since doing that Sailune Publishing job, they might talk us up to some other big companies and hello money." Dollar signs appeared in Lina's eyes thinking about all that possible cash to be made.

"Unless they want to keep the slaying job you did for them a secret. They would hide it rather then tell others."

"I think I'm going to get a little electric zapper so that I can zap you when you say things that annoy me so that I can hit you." Lina glared at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis let out a low chuckle. "You're a strange girl Lina Inverse."

Lina smiled. "Nice to know I've got the magic touch. I don't think there's a person alive who could break you out of that depressive shell and get you to laugh so easily."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes again.

...

Lina pulled the car into her parking spot and got out. Strangely Slimer wasn't there to greet them. "That's odd. Slimer's usually here to say hello when I get in."

"Last I saw him he was sleeping in the utility closet in a bucket cradling a mop."

"Now that's a sight I'd like to see." Lina said with a laugh.

"Are we the only ones here?" Zelgadis looked around and only saw the Ghost Slayersmobile as the only other car besides Lina's.

"Yeah they usually get in a little later. I'm not really a morning person, but I still like to get here early as I can. Okay let's get upstairs. I want to see if Slimer is still in that closet."

...

Sure enough Slimer was in said closet and was cradling a mop. But the bucket he was sleeping in was toppled over on its' side and a lot of cleaning supplies were all over the floor in a mess.

'That's probably the crash I heard last night. Surprising he slept through it.' Zelgadis mused.

Lina smirked. "SLIMER! WAKE UP!" She yelled.

Slimer awoke fumbling around knocking more stuff all over the place. He looked up at Lina with fright.

"Ha ha ha!" Lina laughed. "I scared a ghost, I scared a ghost!" She gloated in a singsong voice.

Slimer wasn't amused. He straightened up the utility closet in no time, until it was neat and organized. Because if you could classify Slimer with what he does at Ghost Slayers then he would be the building's janitor. So keeping the utility closet clean was a must. And as he left the closet he had his nose turned up obviously not impressed with Lina one bit.

"Lina why did you do that?"

"Are you kidding me? Slimer causes all kinds of trouble. It's nice to sometimes give him a taste of his own medicine. Anyway let's get to work."

...

First things first Lina checked all the equipment that she was going to use for the job that night. Since they had to take everything upstairs to deal with that ghost yesterday it was all sitting in their chargers. When Lina decided everything was in working order she loaded everything they needed into the Ghost Slayersmobile. That included the extra containment boxes Filia had made the previous day. It was a very cumbersome task to do on your own transporting everything from upstairs to the downstairs parking lot. The equipment was heavy and Lina was only one person. Zelgadis felt bad that Lina was doing all this heavy lifting and he couldn't do anything. He had tried, he concentrated real hard but he just couldn't pick up any of the equipment up.

"Don't look so glum Zel." Lina chided as she loaded the last of the equipment into the car.

"Well try and see it from my position. It's hard to watch someone do so much heavy work and not being able to help." Zelgadis mumbled.

"I'm not exactly feeble you know." Lina stated matter-of-factly.

"But still going up and down the stairs... you must be exhausted!"

Lina shrugged. "I'm used to it. This place does have an elevator, but it doesn't work. So I'm used to going up and down the stairs a lot."

"What's wrong with the elevator?" Zelgadis wondered.

"One of the many accidents that happened here. It seems that it crashed with people it in. It's currently sitting on this floor in a heap of twisted metal. The cable snapped I think." Lina closed up the trunk to the Ghost Slayersmoblie.

"Don't elevators have an emergency break lock system in case something like that happens?"

"Probably. But it failed I guess. Either that or didn't have one, this is an old building."

"How many people died in there?" Zelgadis dared look to where the elevator door was. It was closed thankfully so Zelgadis couldn't see the carnage that hid behind it.

"One or two I think. Or at least that's how many ghosts lingered around that particular area of the parking lot when we came here. I tell yeah it was such a mess that we had to close the doors. Couldn't stand looking at it every time I parked my car."

A horrible thought dawned on Zelgadis. "There's dead bodies in there isn't there?"

"Probably a few bones here and there, I think the police cleaned up most of it. Who cares anyway? They are dead and have moved on. I'm not about to move whatever remains are there anyway. Sometimes disturbing remains can cause newer haunting and I highly doubt that elevator can be salvaged anyway. And I don't want to foot the money to get a new one put in."

Even though Lina didn't care, Zelgadis couldn't help but stare at the elevator doors as they passed them to go up the stairs.

...

Xellos hummed softly as he made his way to his classroom. It was a lovely day and he was determined to have a good school day teaching. But try as he may it just wasn't the same without Filia. He actually felt guilty at what he had done. Sure he loved the fact that he had stolen her job from right under her or how upset and angry he could make her. But he never intended her to leave the school all together. As it was Xellos had gone too far this time.

Now Xellos was stuck going day to day missing Filia in all her golden fury. He constantly wondered what she was doing. Many thoughts went through his head of new things he could do to annoy her, but alas he couldn't go near her. After Filia left to go work for Ghost Slayers she had filed a restraining order on him. Legally he couldn't go near her anyway.

So that left Xellos attempting to go through his days teaching with the same energy as he once did. Today was a test day so he was going to have fun staring down all the students. He loved doing that. The students were always so stressed during tests as it was that it was unnerving to have a teacher glare at them like as though they were doing something wrong. Xellos even walked around and looked over the students' shoulders as they worked. He pretended to read their answers getting far too close for the students comfort. Sometimes he shake his head as he walked away causing the student to second guess their work. Oh it was great fun for Xellos.

Realizing he was out of red ink in his paper marking pen Xellos went to unlock his supply cabinet to get more pens. But as he did so he found a strange sight. Inside the cabinet was an old looking book. It bore a strange design on the front and it seemed to give off some strange energy. He causally flipped through it but he didn't recognize the language it was written in. Though one thing was odd, the ink used to write the book was dark red.


	17. Chapter 17

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Seventeen

By Relm

The rest of the crew dribbled in at different times. Sylphiel was first, Filia was second and Amelia was third. Straight away Filia went to her lab and went back to making more containment boxes. They probably had enough for the job that night but if they go the job for the house next door having extra was a good idea.

Amelia went back to computer work while Lina, Sylphiel and Zelgadis went to check on yesterday's 'slain' ghost.

At present Lina hadn't mentioned the rug to her crew. Though she had tried to think of a convincing story to explain the blood she hadn't come up with anything. She wasn't sure what she could say that didn't make Zelgadis sound like a pervert.

"So how was your first night at Ghost Slayers Mister Zelgadis?" Sylphiel asked once they reached the ghost containment room.

"Ah um..." Zelgadis stammered. He looked to Lina for help.

"Well Sylphiel there's a funny story about that." Lina laughed nervously. "Slimer was sleeping a bucket cradling a mop in the utility closet. And I actually scared him this morning!"

Sylphiel tried to look disapproving but a small smile crept up her face. "Miss Lina that's horrible!" She cried out in mock protest. "But seriously, how was your first night Mister Zelgadis?"

'Damn.' Zelgadis thought. 'What do I say?' He just stood there panicking not knowing what to say.

"Mister Zelgadis what happened?" Sylphiel asked again.

Zelgadis couldn't handle that questioning look of Sylphiel's face. He cracked. "Alright I confess!" He cried out. "I got spooked and ended up in Lina's bedroom last night while she was changing and I got a nosebleed and passed out! I'm not a pervert I swear! It was an accident!" He spoke very fast with such agony in his voice.

Sylphiel just stood there pondering what Zelgadis had said. "Okay."

Both Lina and Zelgadis looked at her strangely.

"Okay? Care to elaborate?" Lina prompted Sylphiel. She was quite disappointed. Lina had been expecting Sylphiel to blush and get all embarrassed but there was next to no reaction from the raven haired woman.

"Clearly Mister Zelgadis ending up in your room wouldn't make him a pervert. If he was a pervert and wanted to peek on someone he would have chosen someone with a bigger chest. He probably only ended up at your place because he feels safe with you and you two are connected." Sylphiel explained.

Zelgadis nodded in agreement.

"Now wait a minute! Are you calling me flat?" Lina screamed at Sylphiel. She was used to this kind of stuff from other people, but from Sylphiel it was unheard of.

"No no Miss Lina! I'm just saying you're not as busty as those girls that perverts usually ogle. You have a nice figure, you're just smaller." Sylphiel tried to back track her words.

"So I'm not good enough for guys to want to look at in the nude then?" Lina yelled. "Because of my 'flat' chest?"

"Now Miss Lina I didn't say that." Sylphiel tried to calm her boss down.

"But that's what you meant isn't it? That a perverted Zel would much rather look at you, Filia or Amelia in the nude but I'm not good enough?" Lina's voice got louder and louder.

"You've got nice legs." Zelgadis mumbled under his breath while blushing. He didn't think he spoke loud enough for anyone to hear.

He had been wrong.

Lina blushed bright red too embarrassed to respond.

Filia came busting into the room. "Why was Zelgadis trying to see Lina naked?"

...

Xellos sat at his desk pretending to be writing notes while he stared at his students. The pen in his hand absentmindedly scribbled across the paper.

He wasn't trying to write anything specific, he was just scribbling trying to make it look like he was writing something important. But unconsciously Xellos scribbled the same word over and over again. _Filia._

To one side of Xellos' notepad was that mysterious book with the red ink. It lay open on the desk. The professor was planning after class to see if any of the other teachers knew about it. Because Xellos was so pre-occupied he didn't see a misty red hand emerge from the pages.

Xellos let out a yawn. He was getting bored. He looked down at his desk and was shocked at what he say. 'Why the hell was I writing Filia's name for?'

The misty red hand went unnoticed as it retracted the moment Xellos looked down.

Xellos put his notepad and the mysterious book both back in his desk before getting up to start making his rounds of the classroom. 'Time to make some nervous students sweat.' He thought evilly.

...

"Miss Lina I can't believe you'd purposely strip in front of Mister Zelgadis like that!" Amelia cried out.

"Excuse me? I didn't even know he was in the room!" Lina growled.

"It's bad enough that he may be a ghost but now you have to put perverse thoughts in his head too? You knew this was going to happen didn't you?" Amelia pointed at Lina. "It's been your intent all along to seduce poor Mister Zelgadis!"

Lina was very close to killing the mayor's daughter.

Since Lina's outburst everyone had gathered in Sylphiel's lab while the quiet raven haired woman tested the rug. And to grill Lina and Zelgadis. Needless to say everyone at Ghost Slayers was aware of the previous night's events.

"You know if Zelgadis really wanted to peek on a beautiful young woman why would he peek on Lina for?" Filia mused. "She practically has no bust."

"Filia! Do you have a death wish?" Lina glared at the blond woman.

"Really Lina I'm defending the two of you." Filia laughed nervously. "Clearly his intent wasn't to be a peeping tom. Otherwise he would have peeked on me or Sylphiel. We are the obvious choice."

"Hey!" Amelia protested. "Don't put me in the same category as Miss Lina! I have a much better figure that her!"

Sylphiel choose not to comment on anything as she found the idea of the situation too embarrassing. Even if it had happened to something else.

Zelgadis wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear. And seeing how Zelgadis had the ability to walk through walls he could have disappeared. But like before he forgot this fact.

Slimer was also in the room and had mysteriously gotten his hand on a dress and was wearing it. He had even reformed his body so that he appeared to have a womanly figure. He pretended to strut around while he batted his eyes flirtatiously at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis buried his face in his hands.

"I'm done analyzing the rug fibres." Sylphiel timidly spoke up.

All bickering ceased and all gathered around Sylphiel and her equipment.

"What did you find Sylphiel?" Lina prompted her.

"It's blood." Sylphiel stated rather plainly,

"We already know that." Filia rolled her eyes. "But what else is it?"

"Blood, plain ordinary human blood. Nothing jumps out at me telling this isn't regular blood. No abnormal readings. If I were to analyze this without knowing where it came from I'd figure it was from a normal living person." Sylphiel explained.

"Well I was hoping for a little more than that, but it's still a good result I guess. If Zel was a ghost he wouldn't have bled. So that's another thing to support the fact that Zelgadis is alive and not a ghost." Lina stated.

"But that still doesn't explain what I am. If I'm not dead where is my body?" Zelgadis cried out in frustration.

...

After Xellos' second class of tests he had a free period to wander around the school. Lunch would be right after third period so really Xellos had lots of time to go anywhere. He could have gone to a restaurant for lunch or home or anywhere besides staying at the school. But he did have his lunch and a mystery on his hands. Who put the book in his cabinet and what was the book for?

So with the mysterious book in hand Xellos walked around the school looking for anyone whom could answer his questions.

The first person Xellos decided to talk to was Val, the school's top English literature professor. Now the first person Xellos should have asked was the school's ancient studies professor and not an English lit teacher but Xellos always loved to irritate Val. Val was Filia's step brother and though the two didn't get along too well they did have something in common, they both hated Xellos.

At present Val was already engaged in a very animated lecture about the difference between a literary classic and the trash currently being published when Xellos busted into the classroom. Xellos didn't even try to seek in quietly, he just opened the door forcibly and it slammed against the wall turning all the heads of the students in his direction.

"Val, I need to ask you something." Xellos walked toward the aqua haired professor while flipping through the mysterious book in hands. He didn't look up he just looked at the book as he walked completely ignoring how angry Val was becoming.

"I'M TEACHING A CLASS YOU IDIOT! GET OUT!" Val screamed at Xellos pointing at the door.

This was ignored as Xellos held up the book. "I found this book-"

"I DON'T CARE! GET OUT!"

Xellos carried on completely ignoring Val's rage. "It was in my cabinet, I don't know who put it there-"

"ARE YOU DEFT? I SAID GET OUT!"

"And I can't read the language, can you?" He looked up at Val and frowned. "My you're quiet red in the face. Are you not feeling well Val?"

"I'm about to kill someone!" Val growled with the veins popping out from the sides of his head.

"Really? Why? Has someone been bothering you today?" Xellos pretended to be innocent and ignorant of what Val was saying.

"Why you annoying! Give me the damn book!" Val grabbed the book from Xellos and gave it a quick read. "What the hell is this?"

"I don't know. Someone left if for me. The writing looks like gibberish."

Val's rage completely subsided at that moment and was replaced by curiosity. "No it's not gibberish, it's a language. Probably an ancient one, though the book doesn't look old enough for the writing it contains. It's probably a reproduction of an older book. Red ink wasn't a common medium to write with though... Unless it's not ink but some other red liquid used in place of ink, like fruit juices or blood." Val mumbled to himself.

Xellos snatched the book away from Val. "I figured you wouldn't be much help. This was a waste of my time." And with that Xellos waltz his way to the door.

"Your time? YOU'RE THE ONE INTERUPTING MY CLASS!"

"It's not like your class is all that important." Xellos waved his hand in the air as he walked out the door just narrowly missing the book Val threw at him. "Now, now Val you should do something about that temper of yours. You're starting to look like your step-sister."

"STAY AWAY FROM MY CLASS! OR I WILL KILL YOU!" Val screamed as Xellos went into the hall.

Xellos let out a low chuckle as he could still hear Val ranting from inside his classroom. Since he couldn't bother his precious Filia, Val had become is replacement target. As fun as it was it just wasn't the same.

A part of Xellos wondered what Filia's opinion of the book would be. But even if he wanted to, the book wasn't enough of a justifiable reason to contact her.

'Blood huh?' Xellos mused opening the book again to look at the red lettering once more. 'What a morbid thing to write with. But if it's old and morbid then I guess that means there's only one person I can talk to shed any light on what this book is. And that's Phibrizzo our own little master of ancient studies and dead languages.' As Xellos closed the book once more the red lettering glowed with malicious intent. It seems the book didn't appreciate being repeatedly open and closed.

But of course that was silly. Since when did a book have feelings? But if you believed that books were alive you would be alarmed by the rage swelling in the blood stained pages of the book. As it raged with desire for blood, vengeance and carnage. This was no ordinary book after all. And what the book contained was not an ordinary story. No it was something different. Something very...

_Evil._


	18. Chapter 18

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Eighteen

By Relm

Xellos had a bit of trouble tracking down Professor Phibrizzo. As it turned out the little professor had a spare period before lunch as well.

Phibrizzo was an odd little man. He suffered from a rare medical condition that severely stunted his growth. Though he was most definitely an adult he had the body of a young child. His voice also sounded quite young as though he stopped aging when he hit the age of ten.

Many people usually mistook Phibrizzo for a young kid. And Phibrizzo didn't help matters because he usually acted like a little child. Especially when he was getting blamed for bad things he did. All Phibrizzo had to do was put on the fake tears and upset child charm and he would get everyone against the person accusing him of wrongdoing.

For that reason he wasn't well liked or respected amongst his peers. Most people didn't like to talk or associate with the little professor. Which suited Phibrizzo fine since his favourite pastime was irritating and terrorizing people.

Thankfully for Xellos Phibrizzo was up to one of his little pranks. When Xellos found the little professor he as dumping live frogs into the women's washroom in the teacher's lounge.

"Thos aren't the frogs slated to be dissected by the biology class are they?" Xellos peered over Phibrizzo's shoulder.

"I'm setting free to live happily."

"In the women's washroom?"

"Yes they seem to like swimming in the toilets." Phibrizzo said with an evil smirk.

Xellos let out a chuckle. "Well I can't argue with that. Now could you go wash your hands? I have something I'd like you to look at and I don't want to get frog slime all over it."

Phibrizzo did as he was told and the two of them sat down at the table. Since Phibrizzo was so short he sat on a stack of phonebooks sitting on top of the chair. "So what is it that you'd like me to look at?"

"This book." Xellos placed the book in front of Phibrizzo on the table. "I found this in my cabinet. I don't know who put it there or what it is for. But I can't read it."

Phibrizzo frowned as he flipped through the pages of the book. He felt a strange sort of energy flowing through him as his fingers touched the letters of the book.

"Val thinks it wasn't written with ink, but fruit juices or blood." Xellos added.

"I'd wager it's blood. And the writing is definitely old. Too old for the look of this book..." Phibrizzo mused.

"So you can read it?"

Phibrizzo shook his head. "I can't read it. Though from the look of it I'd say it's probably Mglahan."

"Mglahan?" Xellos had trouble saying the name, it was one hadn't heard of before.

"Mglahan was the primary language spoken by the Mglahan people of the Talini islands. This looks like it's one of the books from the Mglah book collection written during the Kol era that had recently been discovered." Phibrizzo explained.

"So it's from the Mglah book collection?"

"I doubt that. Those books are priceless and the likelihood that someone would steal it and place it into your classroom seems ridiculous. I'd say it's probably just a good reproduction. Given the time it was supposed to be written this book doesn't look old enough to be part of that collection."

"I wonder if anyone could translate it..."

"The books are currently in possession of the Sailune Library. One of their guys is working on translating them. Maybe you should contact them." Phibrizzo suggested.

"Thank you Professor Phibrizzo you've been uncharacteristically helpful."

"Well I try." Phibrizzo flashed Xellos a smile tainted with mischief.

Xellos regarded him suspiciously as he went to get out of his chair. Which decided to go with him. "Did you put super glue on all the chairs?" Xellos muttered as he tried to free himself of the chair stuck to his butt.

"The only way you're getting the chair off is to rip it off or take off your pants." Phibrizzo chuckled.

Considering his options Xellos wasn't sure what to do. Either way the pants couldn't be saved. Should he walk around with a chair stuck to his butt or let everyone see his underwear?

Xellos did the only thing he do and still keep his pride. Off went his pants and he strutted his way back to his class clad in just his boxers.

Normally being stuck walking around in just your underwear was embarrassing, especially when said underwear had the words 'Sexy Beast' written across the butt. But Xellos wasn't embarrassed. He just strutted around winking and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at anyone who stared regardless of their genders.

...

Lina, Zelgadis, Amelia and Sylphiel all sat around the Ghost Slayers office's phone watching it. Filia was still in her lab making more containment boxes but the other four had nothing to do but wait. They were at a dead end with their investigation of Zelgadis' missing body and they had done all the prepping they could for the job later that day. So that left them all sitting around watching the phone. Getting two job calls in one day was like Christmas for the Ghost Slayers but that wasn't the case that day.

"I'm bored." Lina mumbled.

"We could go look to see where Slimer is." Amelia suggested. Since they all left Sylphiel's lab Slimer just wandered off still wearing that dress of his.

"He's probably just bothering Filia." Lina idly poked the phone. 'Ring damn you! I want more jobs.' She willed the phone to ring with her mind.

"I wonder where Slimer got that dress." Sylphiel mused. It was obviously not one of theirs given the size and length.

"Why was Slimer dressed up like that?" Amelia wondered.

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "I think he was trying to prove that he had a better figure than Lina."

Lina's brow crinkled into a frown. "That cross dressing ghost does not have a better figure than me!"

"Well he was pretty curving looking Miss Lina." Amelia joked. She got a magazine to her head for that comment.

"I'm bored." Lina whined again.

"Well it is almost lunch time, why don't we look through our take out menus and order something?" Sylphiel suggested.

"Now you're talking!" Lina pulled out about a hundred menus. "What should we pick today?"

...

Xellos let out a loud sigh as he sat on a park bench in the park near Sailune University. There he was spending his lunch calling the Sailune library and he had been on kept on hold the whole time. Since it was lunch time there was no one at the desk to answer calls so Xellos was put on hold by the automated service. He would have hung up and tried again by the voice on the automated service kept promising that someone would be on the line shortly. So stupidly Xellos believed this.

One thing Xellos hated about his cell phone was that it didn't warn him when the battery was getting low. It was supposed to, and he had gone into the phone settings to set so that it would alert him. But it never did especially when Xellos needed to most of all. When he was in the middle of a conversation.

So as Xellos' call finally got through all Xellos got as a warning that his cell phone battery was dead was a little click and then it was dead. At first Xellos thought the person the other end had hung up on him.

"Stupid phone!" Xellos screamed at his phone and almost threw it on the ground. Instead he took his anger out on his sandwich crewing it with a fury like a mad beast ripping apart a fresh kill.

...

"So what am I going to be doing when you guys all go to the job?" Amelia asked Lina after lunch was finished.

"Make sure that Slimer doesn't cause any trouble." Lina answered as she attempted to make a card castle. Of course that was proving to be hard for Lina as Zelgadis kept putting his hands in and out of the cards trying to distract Lina.

"Easier said than done."

"You could clean the building with Slimer." Lina suggested as the card castle fell down. She glared at Zelgadis who just looked back all innocent.

"Miss Lina I'm not a maid!" Amelia protested.

"Well you wanted something to do."

Amelia shook her head still scoffing at the idea. "Miss Lina could I have this friday off?"

"Why?"

"My older sister just got back from Zelphilia today and she wants to spend the day with me this friday." Amelia explained.

"If she just got back today why would she wait until Friday to want to see you?" Sylphiel asked in curiosity.

"Because it will probably take her that long to sober up." Lina joked.

"Miss Lina my sister isn't perpetually drunk." Amelia huffed.

"Was she drunk when she called you?" Lina narrowed her eyes at her youngest employee.

"Well she had just gotten back from Zelphilia! That's the wine capital of the world." Amelia countered back.

"I know, I grew up there." Lina said dryly.

"What's your sister like Amelia?" Zelgadis interjected. Obviously everyone at Ghost Slayers knew who Amelia's older sister was like but he didn't know anything. Up until now Zelgadis had thought that Lina was from Sailune. He didn't even know she was from Zelphilia. Which just goes to show how little he knew. 'Am I from Sailune? Or am I from somewhere else?'

"Well my sister is very tall-" Amelia started to explain.

But Lina interjected. "Busty, annoying and loves to drink. And even though her name is Gracia she goes around calling herself Naga."

"She's an actress, that's her stage name!" Amelia protested.

"She may as well call herself goldfish poo." Lina's face scrunched up thinking about Amelia's sister.

"I take it you don't like 'Naga'?" Zelgadis prompted.

"Back when I was in school Naga was part of this exchange program so she ended up going to my school. I found her extremely irritating so I usually stayed clear of her. But then we both auditioned for the same role in the school play. I got the part and she was so angry about it that she decided that she was my 'greatest rival'. She followed me everywhere like a crazed stalker. It wasn't until I ended up teaching in Sailune that I lost her. Of course when I hired Amelia for my company I had no idea Naga was her older sister." Lina explained.

"Really Miss Lina, Gracia isn't so bad." Amelia insisted.

"Tell that to the wine glasses she's broken by the sheer annoyingly shrillness of her laugh. A person laughing shouldn't break glass."

"So Amelia what is your sister doing now?" Sylphiel ever the peace keeper tried to change the subject.

"She's acting at the Sailune Theatre as the starring role of their newest play. It will be going on for the next two months. I should see if Gracia can get us free tickets! I'll ask her on Friday!"

"Assuming I give you the day off."

"C'mon Miss Lina please?" Amelia whined.

"Fine but you're definitely cleaning tonight."

Amelia sighed in defeat.

...

Xellos kept staring at the clock in his class. Since his phone died on his break he didn't have time to call the library back. And since the university tended to frown on teachers making personal calls while teaching Xellos had to wait till all his classes were over.

Xellos knew staring at the clock wouldn't make time go any faster but he couldn't help it. He was anxious.

A part of him questioned why he was so obsessed with trying to get information on the book. Of course Xellos loved solving mysteries, but the truth was he was bored.

Xellos looked around at his students of his last class of the day. Like his others they also had an exam to do. At present Xellos had many stacks of exams waiting to be marked from his previous classes. Grading papers would probably have been a better use of his time rather than sitting around and glaring at things and people.

At five minutes left of the class Xellos got up and walked around anxiously. A student was free to go once they finished their exam but not a single student had left their seat. Either Xellos made the test too hard or they were just being thorough. Whatever the case it was irritating Xellos.

_RING! _The bell sounded officially ending the class.

But no one got up to hand in their exams. They were still checking them over.

"Class is over, stop your exams and hand them in now!" Xellos yelled while sitting back at his desk.

The students groaned as they handed in their exams before leaving the room.

When the last student left Xellos immediately picked up his phone and called the Sailune Library.

"_Hellos this is the Sailune Library, Dawn speaking how may I help you?" _The female voice on the line was soft and proper; exactly what you'd expect a librarian to sound like.

"Hello I'm a professor at Sailune University and I was wondering if someone from your establishment could help me. Someone has mysteriously left a book in my classroom that may be a reproduction of one of your books. I was wondering if I could set up an appointment with one of your translators."

"_What sort of book is it?"_

"I've been told it's Mglahan. And I've been told you have someone translating a book series of the same origin."

The line went very silent.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"_Yes." _Dawn's voice was quite odd.

"Could I set up an appointment with your translator?"

"_He's not available..."_

"Is there anyone else then?"

"_No, Mister Greywars was the only one we had that could translate them."_

"Had?"

Xellos heard the lady gasp at her unintentional slip up. _"Listen you didn't hear this from me, but I think Mister Zelgadis Greywars is dead. He disappeared a while back with word as to where he went. And then yesterday two people from Ghost Slayers came by asking about him and the books he was researching. So if you want to find out what happened to him I'd go ask the people at Ghost Slayers. I'm sorry I have to go, sorry I couldn't help you more." _

"Thank you anyway." When Xellos hung up his phone he frowned at what he learned. 'Should I or shouldn't I call Ghost Slayers?' He mentally mused while staring at the phone. 'What to do what to do?' 


	19. Chapter 19

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Nineteen

By Relm

Since she was dying of boredom Lina decided to finally go over the company's financial records, current and past due unpaid bills, payroll and whatever assets Ghost Slayers had. Lina hated going through all this crap. Because of this when Lina had announced that she was going to work on the bills everyone decided to scatter leaving Lina alone in the office.

Lina was a very money minded person. She loved money, loved to count it and usually loved anything to do with dealing with the finances of a business. But it wasn't fun when you were up to your eyeballs in debt. Which due to their recent job with Sailune Publishing thankfully they weren't that far in debt... yet.

Really Lina was quite lucky that the city building inspectors hadn't come to Ghost Slayers in a while. As it was the state of old police station currently was not safe. In fact if the inspectors came they wouldn't demand Lina fix a million things, they would condemn the place. It was definitely not up to code.

So with the way the finances were there was no way Lina could afford to fix the building. But since she had 'slain' all the ghosts save for Slimer if worst came to worse Lina could always sell the property and start up Ghost Slayers in another location. This was always Lina's plan b. But she didn't really want to do that because then she would have to deal with the hassle of getting their number and address changed. And the last thing she wanted was to finally get established and have potential clients getting the wrong number or going to the wrong address.

'I hope this job pays a lot.' Lina mumbled as she went over their electrical bill. It wasn't as high as it had been in the past but still much higher than a normal business.

Lina was so absorbed with her work that she didn't notice that she wasn't alone in the office any more.

Zelgadis stood over her shoulder looking at the bills Lina was mulling over. "You guys have a lot of bills past due." He commented.

Lina whom was already on edge from boredom reacted badly to transparent being behind her. She grabbed the closest thing on her desk and went to club the offending voice by her ear. Of course since Zelgadis was transparent Lina only swung wildly at the air. "Don't do that! You scared the crap out of me! I could have clubbed to death."

"I'm kinda dead like it's not that it matters." Zelgadis sat down in a nearby chair. "But sorry I thought you heard me come in."

"How would I have heard you?" Lina glared at him.

"Right I sort of walked through the door. How could you have heard me?" He chuckled darkly. It wasn't the sort of chuckle one did in the spirit of humour but one of bitter irony. "Lina I wanted to ask you something."

Lina threw down the bill in her hand on her desk and rubbed her temples. "Yeah what is it?"

"Well you're all waiting around for the phone to ring or until it's time for the job... Does that mean you've given up on me?" Zelgadis' voice was small and sad. His vision was focused on the floor before him rather than the nearby redhead.

Lina let out a sigh. "No we haven't, but I don't know what I can do at this point. I'm kinda out of options. I'd love to figure out what's with you and put your life back to what it was. For all I know there are people being attacked by this book and are walking around in limbo between dead and alive. I just wish I knew where that book was."

"And what would you do with the book if you got a hold of it?"

"I don't know." Lina admitted. "But I swear that book is the answer. I'd have it scanned for sure. If it's a demonic ghost we could bring it out of the book and contain it. Hopefully it will release everyone it took."

"How would you bring it out of the book? Zap it with your ray guns?"

"Possibly."

Zelgadis frowned. "In your vision a misty red hand emerged from the red text and grabbed me. I don't think it would purposely want to stay in a book. I think it wants to be free."

"And it took your body to do it?"

Zelgadis shivered at that idea. To think of a demonic spirit walking around in his body, his skin taking away what belonged to him. His humanity, his life. "I was reported missing. If some demonic spirit was walking around in my body I'm sure that missing person report wouldn't still be open."

"Well I could understand a spirit wanting to use someone's spiritual energy to escape a prison but stealing a body and not the soul too seems strange to me." Lina mused.

"Maybe I got away before it could take that too. But there is another possibility..." Zelgadis' voice trailed off.

"What?"

"That it wasn't trying to escape... it was trying to... feed..."

Lina's face softened into one of concern and empathy. "I think if it ate you'd be an actual ghost not this ghost wannabe that you are. And besides it was a red misty hand. Misty as in transparent, so I'm sure it was a ghost. Also there aren't many actual living demons around these days. Most have them were exterminated hundreds of years ago. That's one of the reasons why people are so quick to dismiss the ideas of ghosts and monsters. Since most of the recorded accounts are riddled in mythology most assume it's just fanatical fantasy/horror stories that aren't true. If only people knew the real horrors that exist out there."

"You mean like werewolves and vampires?"

Lina rolled her eyes. "Yes werewolves and vampires are real but in the way they are depicted in horror movies. They are just people who suffer from genetic disorders. They aren't people that change into wolves at the full moon or bats and have to drink blood. There was this one case of a guy who tried to hire us to exterminate his neighbour because he had that condition that made him have extreme facial hair. The guy was convinced that his neighbour was a movie style 'werewolf' and wanted us to deal with him. I swear just because we're called 'Ghost Slayers' doesn't mean we have to deal with all the loons in town. But no they call us. I'm thankful april fools was yesterday. We always get lots of pranksters that day."

"What about Halloween? You'd probably get lots of prank calls that day. And I'd bet a lot of business too."

Lina shook her head. "No, we do get prank calls but no business at all. Halloween is not considered a real holiday. Adults and students do not get the day off. But here at Ghost Slayers it's our only true holiday. We close up shop and have nothing to do with the slaying business."

Zelgadis frowned in confusion. Halloween was always portrayed in the media as being such an evil day. For a ghost slaying business Halloween should be a golden day. "Why would you guys do that for?"

"The main purpose of Halloween is to ward off bad spirits. Because so many people carve pumpkins, decorate their homes and dress up in costumes it tends to weaken spirits and puts them into hibernation. They never cause problems on Halloween. Truthfully Halloween is actually the purest and holiest day of the year. It's living people that cause problems on Halloween."

"Well if I'm still around like this at Halloween it will be interesting to see what happens."

Lina frowned. "Don't talk like that, we're going to figure this out and you'll be in your own body at Halloween dressed up in a stupid costume, eating candy just like everyone else."

"I'm sorry but it's hard to be optimistic given the situation." Zelgadis idly poked a paper weight on the desk. Or rather his finger was going through said paper weight.

"If only we knew what happened to that book." Lina muttered.

"Well last time I walked through you you saw what happened to me. So if we tried that again?"

Lina unconsciously shook from the thought of merging with Zelgadis' mind again. It hadn't been a pleasant experience the last time. She thought she was going to suffocate to death. "I can't say that was my favourite thing I've ever done. But if it could help, then I'd be willing to try it again." Lina got up and stood before Zelgadis.

Zelgadis got behind her and slowly walked through and into Lina's body.

...

Xellos looked at the clock and looked at the phone. He had been debating for at least an hour debating on what to do. To call or not to call?

"Filia can't get upset with me for calling about a legitimate question. And I could always hang up if she answers the phone." Xellos picked up the phone and dialled Ghost Slayers.

...

Lina felt the exact strange sensations she felt the last time Zelgadis walked through her. It robbed her of all her worldly senses. Including her hearing, so the ringing phone on the desk went unheard.

...

Xellos frowned as he let the phone ring and ring. No one was answering the phone. When it went to the machine Xellos decided to hang up the phone. 'They must not be in or busy. What should I do now?'

...

The vision was the same as before, Zelgadis going through his day before getting attacked by the misty hand in the book. It was devoid of colour and Lina felt like she couldn't breathe.

But since she knew she wasn't going to die Lina calmed her screaming lungs and managed to breath if not somewhat laboured.

Though this vision appeared to be the same as before there were differences. Like it was a longer vision than before, Lina was privy to more of the actual events that lead up Zelgadis researching in his office. At lot of the things Lina saw Zelgadis do, drink coffee, reading a newspaper and walking around were some of the things she'd seen him do when she met him at Sailune Publishing. It was all the events that happened right before Zelgadis got attacked. Lina was sure of it; Zelgadis had been stuck in a temporal loop making him repeat similar events that led up to his disappearance. But for some reason Zelgadis ended up in the wrong place.

As the events let up to Zelgadis right before that book reached out and grabbed him Lina's heart rate sped up. She was aware of what was going to happen next and she knew that she couldn't get excited. There was a chance her state of mind is what broke her connection to Zelgadis' mind and separate the two of them the last time. So Lina was keen on keeping her nerves in check.

That being said Lina couldn't help but hold her breath as she watched that misty hand reach out and grab Zelgadis. He screamed again and his eyes went red like they did before. In fact Zelgadis' whole body seemed to explode with red energy. Though Lina couldn't hear the scream she could almost feel the pain Zelgadis felt at that moment.

When the energy subsided she saw Zelgadis as she was used to seeing; transparent like a ghost. The book which glowed bright red fell to the ground and when it hit the floor both the book and Zelgadis disappeared.

...

When Lina opened her eyes she found herself standing in her office with Zelgadis standing before her looking very concerned. She felt quite dizzy and for good reason too; she hadn't realized she had been holding her breath. Letting out the air held captive in her lungs she quickly went for her chair to sit down.

"Lina are you alright?" Zelgadis' eyes were filled with much concern.

"Yeah just forgot I could breathe."

"What did you see? Do you know where the book is?"

Lina frowned. "I think your body is in the book. I think whatever is in the book stole your body and pulled it back in with it. As for where it is, it disappeared."

"What do you mean disappeared?"

"It fell to the ground and both you and it vanished. I think you ended up in Sailune Publishing and it must have ended up in somewhere else in Sailune. But where?"

...

Xellos idly flipped through the pages of the strange book with the red lettering. It was a mysterious book that had many questions surrounding it. Including what the heck he was supposed to do with it?

The idea of actually going to Ghost Slayers with the book in hand did cross Xellos' mind. But if they weren't there to answer the phone they wouldn't be there to answer the door.

Xellos sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. His contacts were dry and bothering him and were doing nothing to help the situation.

While Xellos was unaware the red letters of the book glowed as that misty hand formed and reached out to grab Xellos.


	20. Chapter 20

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty

By Relm

Xellos let out a yawn while stretching in his chair. He was unaware of the misty red hand that stalked closer to him.

The thing trapped inside the book almost laughed as it got closer to its goal. Just a few more inches and it would have it desired.

As Xellos lurched forward to stretch his lower back he got just the barest glimpse of that evil red hand. It was so quick and brief that Xellos didn't have time to react.

The hand grabbed Xellos' arm and Xellos felt his whole body explode with pain. He felt his mind and body be ripped apart. The misty red hand pulled Xellos' body back into the book with it leaving a ghostly form of the professor standing in the classroom.

As Xellos' body was pulled into the book it slammed shut with such a force that it knocked the book off the desk. As the book fell to the ground both it and the ghostly form of Xellos vanished.

...

"Make sure Slimer doesn't cause any trouble." Lina ordered Amelia before getting into the Slayersmobile.

Amelia frowned. "I'll try but I'm not a miracle worker. Be careful at the house."

"Aren't I always careful?" Lina shot Amelia devil may care smile.

"Miss Sylphiel, Miss Filia make sure Miss Lina is careful please?" Amelia pleaded with the other two Ghost Slayers.

"Don't worry Amelia we'll be fine." Sylphiel assured the youngest Ghost Slayer as she and Filia got into the car with Lina.

Slimer waved as he did so drops of slime few in every which direction.

"Goodbye and good luck." Zelgadis also waved as the Lina, Sylphiel and Filia drove off.

"Okay Slimer let's get cleaning!" Amelia went to turn to her ghostly green cleaning partner for the night but strangely the little green man had taken off. "Oh no where did he go now?"

"You start cleaning, and I'll look for him." Zelgadis offered.

"Thank you Mister Zelgadis! I'm going to start the area I want to do least, just to get it over with. So when you find Slimer send him to the bathrooms."

"Who knows maybe he's already started."

Amelia chuckled. "That would be nice but more likely he's raiding the mini fridge we have in the break room."

"You guys have a break room?" Zelgadis wondered out loud. He had pretty much spent two days now at Ghost Slayers and he had yet to look around and see what the place actually had.

"Yup and many other rooms too. That room with the bed you were supposed to sleep in last night used to be an interrogation room. Miss Lina was going to set up her rest area in the prison but it's too far downstairs and it gets really cold." Amelia explained.

"Plus I'd bet there had been a lot of death there."

"There's a lot of death in this whole building if you want to look at it that way."

Zelgadis eyed the closed elevator suspiciously. It was the area in the whole building that creeped him out the most. But then again he hadn't really explored the place as it is. A small part of him wanted to poke his head through the steel doors to take a look. He squashed that impulse pretty quickly. "Which area of the building creeps you out the most?"

"The boiler room. It's dark and wet and there's always weird noises coming from there. Sometimes I think we missed a few ghosts and they are hiding there." Amelia shivered thinking about the room. When she very new to the job Lina had wanted to toughen her up so she sent Amelia to that room to check for ghosts. There had been three in the room, two of them bordering on poltergeist and had been quite frightening to Amelia. Since all the pipes were firmly set in place there wasn't really anything they could throw around. The two of them were just very loud and kept getting in Amelia's face. It was the third ghost that came to her _'rescue'. _It was Slimer and he distracted them enough so that Amelia could trap the two. That was how Amelia first met Slimer. After getting the two ghosts Slimer smiled at her encouragingly and spent the rest of the day following her around. It was only because of Amelia that Slimer was spared being 'slayed'.

"I guess even people like you have things that frighten you."

"Well not Miss Lina. I don't think she's afraid of anything!" Amelia beamed with pride. She did look up to Lina, Lina was her idol after all.

"Amelia why did you come to work for Lina anyway? You don't seem like the type that would chase after spooky things."

"Miss Lina was my teacher and I was very impressed by her science. So many poor lost souls wander the earth with malice and hatred in their hearts because they can't let go. They can't move on and they are doomed to remain in this mortal coil. And as a shining star of justice I cannot turn a blind eye to such suffering! It is our duty to free those that cannot leave! To give peace to everyone in the land!" Amelia struck a pose while standing on top of the tallest car left in the parking lot.

Zelgadis just stood there blinking. "Amelia you should get down from there." He mumbled in a small voice. He hadn't expected Amelia to get so passionate in that speech. Or rather he hadn't been expecting a speech at all. In reality he didn't know Amelia that well.

...

Lina was in high spirits when she drove to their new job. Even though typically the people that she met for these kinds of jobs were at the end of their rope and desperate, Lina couldn't be happier. This was guaranteed money and possibly the beginning of a lot more jobs. Lina was so happy that she hummed a cheerful tune.

"Miss Lina I don't think you should be so happy." Sylphiel commented while frowning. "These poor people are being terrorized by a supernatural being. You should be a little more sensitive about the situation."

"Yeah don't hum and cheer until we're leaving with the cheque." Filia added.

Lina gave one last chuckle before settling on a more serious face. As the car turned the corner and pulled in front of the house air in the vehicle got considerably colder.

Standing outside the house was a weary family of four. There was a mother, a father a little boy and a baby girl. With exception to the baby girl the whole family looked like they had been through the wringer.

"Hello you must be the Parsons. I'm Lina Inverse head and founder of Ghost Slayers and these are my associates Filia Ul Copt and Sylphiel Nels Rada." Lina introduced them.

"I'm Frank and this is my wife Lucy." Mr. Parson went to shake Lina's hand. "And these are our two children, Peter and Joy."

"Our other associate Amelia was the one that you talk to on the phone. Am I correct in assuming that she talked to you about the rates we charge?" Lina pulled out a paper with a printout of their rates and handed it to Mr. Parson.

"Yes Amelia was quite helpful. We're willing to pay whatever it takes to get rid of this menace to our lives." Mr. Parson said in exasperation.

"Unfortunately Mr. Parson it might not be so easy. In doing research for this job we realized that the probable cause for the haunting of your home is because of one of that house." Sylphiel pointed to the ghost magnet house. "That house had been previously haunted and the owners at the time had hired a faulty spiritual cleanser that messed up and turned the house into a ghost magnet."

"It's most likely that you're getting haunted because there are already too many ghosts residing in that haunted house that they are being forced off to haunt other houses in the neighbourhood." Filia added.

"Since finding this out we have contacted the current owners of the ghost magnet house in hopes that they would hire us and we could deal with the problem at the source. But they refused. Apparently they don't believe in ghosts. So even if we deal with your haunting problem, you may get haunted again because of your neighbours." Lina finished off.

"Why those rotten scoundrels! They don't even live here! They bought the house and they haven't moved in yet! Now I know why they've just left the place to rot." Mr. Parson grumbled. "You know because of that house being such an eyesore with all the weird sounds it brings down the value of all the houses in the area. It's the reason why we were able to afford our home. But if I'd known why I don't know if I would have bought our house! The neighbourhood is going to hear about this for sure! Something has to be done about those irresponsible people! You wouldn't have any cards we could hand out? I know we're not the only ones being haunted."

The dollar signs almost popped right into Lina's eyes and as she pulled out a stack of business cards. 'That Zelgadis is a genius!' "So you still want us to do your house?"

"Yes even if it's temporary I would like to be able to sleep at least one peaceful night in my own house!" Mr. Parson stomped his foot. "You don't know how frustrating it is to finally get enough money to buy your own home and you can't even sleep in it."

"How long have you been living in your house?"

"About four months." Mrs. Parson answered while readjusting her hold on baby Joy. Joy giggled in response. Though the family was upset about the haunting but Joy was true to her name. She looked as happy as happy can be.

"And when did you notice something haunting your home?"

"A day or two after we moved in."

Lina frowned. It was possible that the house was haunted before the Parsons moved in. But there was also a chance that they were being haunted and not the house. Ghosts sometimes were attracted to families because of small children. "Well I'm not sure if Amelia told you but in the case of residence haunting I generally like to start with some scans of the people living in the residence."

"What for?"

"To make sure that the ghost isn't haunting you instead of your home." Lina pulled out her scanner and started to give each family member a quick scan. The scanner made all kinds of noises but that was just because of the house behind them and not the family themselves. "Okay looks like you're clean. I would suggest that you go somewhere while we work on your house. Perhaps going out to dinner would be a good idea."

"Will us being here cause problems for the ghost slaying?"

Lina shook her head. "No but with residential haunting sometimes the ghosts can get violent and I wouldn't want anything to happen to any of you. Especially when children are involved. So for safety I'd prefer that you weren't around."

"Alright will you call us when you're finished?"

"Of course."

The Parsons got into their car and drove off leaving the Ghost Slayers crew to face down with their new assignment.

"Alright girls, let's get go get us some ghosts!" Lina smirked evilly charging up her gun.

...

While Amelia started on cleaning Zelgadis went looking for Slimer while exploring.

Zelgadis didn't realize just how large the Ghost Slayers HQ was. There were many floors with many rooms he hadn't been before.

As he searched the still and quiet halls Zelgadis was starting to get that eerie feeling in his gut again. It was the same one he got the previous night that made him end up at Lina's apartment.

Zelgadis had to constantly remind himself that he wasn't alone in the building and that he had nothing to be afraid of. Perhaps if he could hear his own footsteps it wouldn't be so bad. The still silence was what was creeping him out after all.

"Slimer? Slimer where are you?" Zelgadis called out cutting the deafening silence like a hot knife through butter. His voice echoed through the halls and bounced back distorted as if to mock him.

Out of the corner of Zelgadis' eye he saw a dark blur move. He spun himself around to see but he found nothing. As he tried to calm his transparent heart he kept moving.

'There's nothing to be afraid of.' He told himself several times over and over.

Another movement in the corner of his eyes made Zelgadis jump. Again he spun around and found nothing out of the ordinary.

Zelgadis' earlier conversation with Amelia about ghosts in the boiler room played over in Zelgadis' mind. Ghost Slayers was a large place maybe Lina missed a ghost or two. Maybe it was a ghost stalking him in the hall.

That thought made Zelgadis more edgy. Though he himself was something not all unlike a ghost Zelgadis couldn't shake the fear building. "Ghosts can't hurt me, ghosts can't hurt me..." Zelgadis mumbled while closing his eyes. When he opened them there was a pair of eyes staring at him.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Zelgadis screamed and disappeared.

...

Right as Lina and her gang of merry Ghost Slayers were about to enter the house a very bewildered Zelgadis popped up in front of them.

_(Author's Notes: I really starting to feel like I'm treading molasses with this one. It's getting harder and harder to write. I think it's because I can't make any clear cut decisions till it comes to typing it. This part for instances could have gone one of three ways. I had originally had one idea that I was going to follow by this point a few parts ago that I ended up scrapping. Yet while writing this suddenly it came back to that idea. As if the will of the story dictated it to be. So the path it took wasn't even one of the three ways I had decided but kind of a mishmash of them with the original idea shining through. I really want to see this one through to the end but unlike the other fic series that I finished I do not have a clear cut ending already in the back of my mind with this one.) _


	21. Chapter 21

_Author's Notes: Since going back to my original plot skeleton things are going far more smoothly than last week. And it's so funny too, I had abandoned that skeleton three parts ago and it mysteriously re-established itself making it work. Sometimes I find it best not to argue with a story. If it wants to go a certain way don't try and fight it. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-one

By Relm

Amelia let out a sigh as she finished cleaning the bathrooms. Slimer was still nowhere to be seen so Amelia was cleaning alone.

'Mister Zelgadis hasn't found Slimer yet I guess.' Deciding the break room would be a good place to do next Amelia grabbed her cleaning stuff and headed to her destination.

The break room was a complete mess! Whatever contents the refrigerator had in it were spilled all over the floor with a good amount of goo added to it. That alone told Amelia who the culprit was. "Slimer!" Amelia yelled out.

But if the little green ghost was around he wasn't coming out to reveal himself.

Amelia just shook her head as she went to clean the floor. "Miss Lina isn't going to like this. Slimer wasted a lot of food." As Amelia went to sweep up the floor a movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. "AHHHHHH!" Amelia screamed when she saw the face staring back at her. 

...

"Zel what are you doing here?" Lina frowned while she turned her gun off and put it down.

Zelgadis shivered uncontrollably feeling chilled to the 'bone'. Whether he was cold from fright or the ghost activity in the house behind him was debatable. "I'm sorry, it happened again." Zelgadis lowered his head in shame.

Lina's frown softened. "You got scared again? What scared you this time?"

"Eyes... I opened my eyes and something was staring back at me!"

"Was it Slimer? He does like to startle people." Sylphiel suggested sympathetically.

Zelgadis shook his head. "No I was looking for Slimer and 'something' was following me. Something with evil purple eyes." Zelgadis shuddered.

"Purple? Don't tell me we have a new ghost haunting our place?" Lina shook her head in disgust. "I'd better call Amelia and warn her." Lina fished out her phone from her pocket and was surprised when it rang. It almost made her drop it. "Hello?"

"_Miss Lina we have a problem."_

"Yeah a new ghost, Zel told me."

"_What? Mister Zelgadis is there with you? Oh never mind that's not important! It's Mister Xellos! He's here."_

"Xellos is at Ghost Slayers HQ?"

"What?" Filia exclaimed. "Tell Amelia to tell that bastard that he'd better get his slimy butt out of my place of work before we get back! Or I'll have him arrested for violating the restraining order!" Filia screamed trying to get the phone from Lina.

"Filia!" Lina glared at the blond woman as she shook her off. "Amelia did you hear that?"

"_Yeah but I don't think me telling Mister Xellos that is going to matter..."_

"Why?"

"_Because he's sitting in a chair looking at me and I can see right through him."_

"Xellos is a ghost?" Lina, Sylphiel and Zelgadis all looked at Filia suspiciously.

"Hey!" Filia protested. "I may hate his guts but I would never kill him!"

"_Has Miss Filia been with you the whole time?"_ Amelia spoke up.

"Amelia I don't think Filia did it. Are you sure it's Xellos and he's dead?"

"_I haven't done any readings yet but I can see right through him. I can see the cracks on the wall behind him! And he's not talking. All he is doing is staring at me. It's really creepy!"_

"Do some readings on him and contact the university. If Xellos is dead most likely he was killed at the school."

"_And what do I do with him?"_

"Observe him but don't do anything till we get back."

"_How long are you going to be?"_

"Well we haven't started the job yet!"

"_You're going to leave me here all alone with it?" _Amelia sounded panicked.

"Well does Xellos seem hostile?"

"_No he's smiling! It's so creepy!"_

"Well I'm sorry Amelia but you're just going to have to tough it out alone. I can't send anyone back; we only took the Ghost Slayersmobile after all. Find Slimmer and he'll keep you company."

"_Alright Miss Lina..."_ Amelia didn't sound happy at all.

"Bye." Lina hung up her phone. "As if things weren't complicated enough already."

"Is he really dead?" Filia mumbled more to herself than to the others. Just a few moments ago Filia had been a ball of rage, but now she seemed... sad.

"Filia we'll get to the bottom of this. Don't get upset until Amelia can confirm Xellos is a ghost." Lina tried to reassure her.

"Upset? Why would I be upset for?" Filia exclaimed defensively. "He can die and go to hell for all I care!"

Lina rolled her eyes. "Anyways we have a job to do."

'What about me?" Zelgadis wondered out loud.

"I have a feeling you won't be able to find your way back to Ghost Slayers HQ on your own. So I guess you'll have to go wait in the car until we are finished."

"Are you sure that's wise Miss Lina?" Sylphiel frowned.

"Well we can't take him in with us. And I don't see what else we can do. So let's just be quick as we can. So let's go."

...

Amelia couldn't look at Xellos. It was extremely creepy. The Sailune University professor was dressed in his dark purple suit like he was ready to teach his class. His eyes were transfixed in Amelia's general direction.

The penetrating stare made Amelia shiver. She tried not to look at him as she got up to leave the room. But as she got to the doorway she just had to look.

Xellos was still sitting in the chair looking forward. He wasn't staring at Amelia anymore but in the direction that Amelia had been in.

'He wasn't staring at me?' Amelia dared to move her hand in front of Xellos' face.

The transparent professor failed to register Amelia at all.

This confused Amelia and she stood there frowning.

Slimer was confused too. But then he didn't know why Amelia was standing around confused. He just floated behind her.

Amelia shook her head and turned to leave getting a face full of slime. "EEEEEK!" Amelia screamed wiping the goo from her face. "Slimer!" She screeched. "Disgusting... Slimer stay here and I'll be right back."

Slimer nodded not really understanding her. After Amelia let he turned his attentions to his new 'friend'. With a big smile Slimer went to give the new ghost a big messy hug.

But Slimer went right through Xellos.

Xellos didn't even seem to acknowledge the green ghost or the goo left on his suit. He just continued to smile staring off into space.

...

The inside of the Parson's house was definitely warmer than outside but not as warm as it should be for the season.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to the untrained eye. It looked like a normal family home.

But to a ghost slayers' eye there was things amiss. The cold spots were the first give away. And there were pictures hanging askew and things in wrong places and there was those strange noises coming from the floor above.

Sylphiel scanned as she looked around while Lina and Filia had their guns ready.

Sylphiel's scanner kept beeping making all kinds of noise. The closer they got to one side of the house the more noise it made. But that was because that was the side of the house that was the closest to the ghost magnet house. "Miss Lina it's going to be hard to get any clear readings that aren't from the house next door. But I don't think the ghost or ghosts are on this floor."

"Let's try upstairs in the kids' rooms. Most likely that's where the ghost or ghosts will be." Lina decided.

Upstairs was much cooler than downstairs. More so when Lina, Sylphiel and Filia got to the bedrooms.

Both the kid's room's had name plates nailed to their doors. Joy's room was right next to her parent's room, while Peter's was further down the hall.

Sylphiel's scanner went crazy when she got to Peter's door. "There's at least one in here." Sylphiel announced.

Filia cautiously opened the door with Lina and Sylphiel staying clear of the door way. As expected a teddy bear flew from the room and out in the hall.

"Be careful." Lina whispered.

Peter's room looked like any other little boy's room. It had a race car bed and was decorated in the classic planes, trains and automobiles fashion.

Toy planes were hung from the ceiling suspended with string. Their propellers spun and they flew around in circles as far as their strings would let them.

"Oh yeah we have a ghost." Lina muttered.

"It's there!" Sylphiel pointed.

Lina shot her gun stunning the ghost. The ghost flashed with the electricity making it visible. It was a male in his late forties with four gunshot wounds to his chest. And he looked very cross that he was being shocked.

Filia got the box ready and slid it down under the ghost. "Now Lina!"

Lina guided the ghost towards the open box.

The ghost desperately tried to claw his way out of the box it was being sucked into. But his fight was in vain and the box shut with a hiss.

"Any more in the room?" Lina swung her gun around. The planes had stopped flying and the room was much warmer now.

"No it's clean." Sylphiel concluded.

"Okay let's go to Joy's room."

Joy's room also registered ghostly activity on Sylphiel's scanner. More so even than Peter's room.

"Either there's one than one ghost or there's a poltergeist in there." Sylphiel concluded.

"If they've been away for a while that might have angered the ghost into a poltergeist level." Lina mused as she went to open the door.

More stuffed animals flew out the door. Inside the room there were all kinds of baby toys and baby items flying around in the room. They crashed into walls and other random pieces of furniture. The baby's crib was even floating in the air. Unlike Peter's room this ghost was visible.  
It was a little girl that looked like she had been drowned. And she smiled evilly at the Ghost Slayers.

"I don't like the look of that smile." Lina aimed her gun at the girl.

Suddenly everything in the room stopped flying in mid air and then went crashing towards Lina, Sylphiel and Filia. All three veered sidewise to avoid the flying objects

"NOW!" Lina screamed as she and Filia shot their guns are the ghostly girl.

The girl thrashed around wildly still causing mayhem in her rage.

Sylphiel got the containment box ready and slid it down the room.

With the box ready Filia and Lina both tried to guide the girl down toward it. But this ghost was a feisty one and wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Sylphiel! Your gun too!" Lina commanded trying to keep her hold on her gun.

Sylphiel shot her gun and it was enough to regain control. The three of them forced the ghost into the box.

The box shook around while it closed. But then the green light went off signalling that the ghost was caught.

"Anything else?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "Not in this room."

"Okay let's keep searching then."

Lina, Sylphiel and Filia searched every inch of the house looking for more ghosts. But for the moment it seemed like the house was clean.

...

Zelgadis sat impatiently in the Ghost Slayersmobile. Lina and company hadn't been gone too long but he didn't like staying near the ghost magnet house. "I hope they are done soon." He said while looking toward the house. Since his attentions were so focused on the house to his right he didn't notice that he wasn't alone in the car.


	22. Chapter 22

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-two

By Relm

Zelgadis tapped his fingers against the car window nervously as he waited. Or rather he would have been tapping it had his fingers not go right through the window. Anyone passing by might have been frightened by the fingers that went in and out of the glass.

Though not a lot of time had passed since Lina, Sylphiel ad Filia went into the house to Zelgadis it felt like it was a lifetime. He was getting progressively more nervous the more time ticked away. 'I need to keep my mind occupied.' He decided and causally looked to his other side. All he saw was cold grey eyes before everything went black.

...

"Is there anything in the bathroom?" Lina called out to the hall. "Because I'm getting nothing from the spare bedroom.

"Nothing in here either." Sylphiel responded from the bathroom doorway. "What about you Miss Filia? Anything in the master bedroom?"

"Nope. Clean as a whistle." Filia came out of the master bedroom and into the hall to meet the others. "Looks like this floor is clean."

"Well we didn't get much from the main floor so that leaves only two areas." Lina observed with a grin. The two areas in question where Lina's favourite two places to check in any residential hunting jobs she did. And that was the attic and the basement.

Typically speaking the smaller and/or darker areas of a home were the most likely to be haunted unless kids were involved. Ghosts were always more attracted to the energy of children, but otherwise they liked the dark out of the way places. And so far they had 'slayed' a regular spectre and a poltergeist which was a decent job on its' own. If they could get a few more ghosts then they could get more money.

When it came to every slaying job Lina had a specific pay rate. There was always the base investigation charge where the Ghost Slayers just checked the building for ghosts. Because no matter if there were ghosts or not Lina had to charge for the labour of checking. Some clients weren't happy to find out their homes weren't haunted and refused to pay. While others were more than happy to learn their homes were ghost free.

Next was the basic ghost slaying. This is where the Ghost Slayers would deal with any or all the standard ghosts in the building. The cost was on a per ghost basis. If the ghost or ghosts were all low level threats then this is what the customer would expect to pay for each ghost. Usually these were the ghosts that were heard but not seen. They might have the ability to move things, but those events would be few and far between.

Thirdly was the mid-level ghost slaying. Again this was on a per ghost pay rate, but this entailed ghosts that are more resistant to 'Slaying'. These kinds of ghosts were visuals, quite nosy and were more likely to move things around. Because these ghosts were more dangerous to deal with Lina naturally charged more.

Lastly was the high-level ghost slaying or poltergeists. These ones were the most dangerous as they were visual, nosy and extremely likely to move things around. And it wasn't usually in a playful fashion. These ghosts were usually very angry and very likely to take those objects they move and throw it at nearby people. Especially if said people were trying to trap them into a portable ghost containment box. Ghosts can't directly hurt you, but if they were say throwing around something sharp or heavy if those objects were to hit you you could get hurt or killed. These ghosts were the hardest to deal with and wasn't something a single Ghost Slayer could deal with on their own. Again due to the danger factor Lina charged the most for these.

Of course dealing with poltergeist wasn't something Lina really loved dealing with. She'd take five regular ghosts over one poltergeist. But given their financial status Lina was happy to get anything.

...

Once Amelia had located her scanner (which unfortunately was in her car all the way downstairs) she raced back to the break room. When she finally got back Xellos was exactly where had been. Sitting in the chair appearing to be staring off into space. The only difference was that he had a fine film of green slime covering his nicely tailor purple suit. But this failed to annoy the ghostly professor.

Slimer floated around the room looking quite distressed.

"You couldn't touch him could you?" Amelia questioned the green ghost.

Slimer nodded while still looking quite upset.

When turned on her scanner she got ghostly readings. But they were coming from Slimer, not Xellos. "According to my scanner... Slimer you are the only ghost in the room. That means you Mister Xellos," Amelia knelt down to look the purple haired man in the eyes, "are just like Mister Zelgadis."

Xellos didn't respond to this he just continued to stare forward as though he could look straight through Amelia's head. Strangely a pen and a pad paper appeared on the table with Xellos and he was absentmindedly scribbling on the pad.

"What are you scribbling?" Amelia went around to the other side of the table to see the paper more clearly. She almost laughed when she saw what it was.

It was one word written over and over again.

_Filia._

"That's surprising." Amelia mused with a frown.

...

Since they were already upstairs Lina, Sylphiel and Filia decided to try the attic. It would have probably made more sense to have one or more of them check the attic while the remaining people check the basement. But Lina didn't want to chance it; there could be a poltergeist or more than one ghost to handle. Better to be safe than sorry.

Usually when it came to attics there were two kinds. The ones that have staircases leading up to it or those ceiling trap door ladder entrances. The staircase style attics were typically pretty big thus warranting the staircase. But the attics with the trap door ladders were usually small, cramped and hard to get into.

Obviously the bigger attic was the easier it was to deal with. Unfortunately for Lina it wasn't one of those kinds of attics.

Lina stared at the trap door ceiling handle. She had hoped that it was going to be a bigger attic. This was going to be problematic. Ordinarily this wouldn't be such a problem. But given the unknown situation because of the house next door Lina didn't have any clue what could be in the attic. And when you have to climb a ladder type stairway it left you extremely vulnerable. If there was a poltergeist up there throwing things about sticking your head in the middle of it was just as bad as walking around with a kick me sign. "Sylphiel are you getting any readings?"

"I'm sorry Miss Lina; I can't properly scan it because of the house next door. Or at least until I get closer to the opening." Sylphiel explained.

"No you're staying down here. I'm going up there first." Lina declared.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Lina?" Filia second guessed Lina's decision.

"No it's not, but we can only go up there one at a time. And it should be me. This is my company and one thing I promised all of you when you came to work for me was that I would try and keep you guys out of danger. Besides at least if I die you'll guys will know what to do with my ghost." Lina joked darkly.

"Miss Lina that's not funny!" Sylphiel protested.

"Oh well here goes nothing." Lina pulled down the trap door and when she was just about to set her foot down on the first step her phone rang. "AHHH!" Lina yelped not expecting the ringing. "Okay whoever did that is going to get my wraith later!" Lina yelled fishing out her phone. "WHAT THE HECK DO YOU WANT?" She yelled rather rudely answered the call.

"_Um... Miss Lina...?"_

Lina rolled her eyes. "Hi Amelia."

"_Is everything okay?"_

"We're still in the middle of ghost slaying so there had better be a good reason why you're calling me."

"_Well it's Mister Xellos... I did the scan..."_

"And what did it say?"

"_Mister Xellos isn't dead. He's just like Mister Zelgadis." _

Lina let out a tired sigh. It's not that she wished death on the university professor or anything but this wasn't exactly a welcome situation either. That meant the book was out there doing the same thing to other victims as it did to Zelgadis.

"What did she say?" Filia demanded again trying to get the phone from Lina.

"Filia stop that! It was the book again. He's an unghostly ghost like Zel." Lina explained to Filia.

"_Miss Lina what should I do now?"_

"Did you contact the school?"

"_I didn't see the point. He's not dead; his body has just been stolen. And what would I tell them anyway? I'm sorry did you have an evil book at your school that steals bodies turning their victims into ghosts? That would just cause panic."_

"Or they would think you're nuts. It would be best just to check the school out."

"_It's too late to do that now, we'd have to check in the morning."_

"Probably wouldn't matter anyway. I doubt the book would still be there. If it's like what happened to Zel it vanished once it got what it wanted."

"_So what do I do? Do you want me to shock him like Mister Zelgadis?"_

"No. Just keep watching him. Don't do anything till we get back. And don't call again. You damn near gave me a heart attack!"

"_Okay Miss Lina, sorry."_

"What are we going to do when we get back?" Sylphiel asked once Lina was off the phone.

"If we're going to shock him I want to do it!" Filia declared.

"We'll decide that afterwards. We're still in the middle of a job here!" Lina muttered before going to cautiously climb the stairs. The higher she ascended the stairs the colder it got. 'Damn either there's a ghost in there or there's a serious insulation problem.'

Instead of poking her head through the open doorway Lina poked the back part of her ray gun through.

Right away something went flying at hit the gun. It was so sudden and with so much force that it almost knocked Lina off the ladder stairs.

With stealthy speed Lina turned the gun around and started shooting randomly up going around in circles as she went through the doorway. The ghost was in the left corner of the attic and even though Lina's gun was stunning him the ghost still thrashing about.

Up the stairs Filia and Sylphiel followed with their guns ready.

The ghost threw books and chairs trying to hit Lina. "Watch yourselves it's another poltergeist!" Lina called to Filia and Sylphiel before they got up to the attic.

Sylphiel joined Lina stunning the ghost while Filia got another containment box ready.

"Filia hurry up!" Lina yelled dodging another book.

With the box down Filia got her gun and also started shooting the ghost leading it down.

The box sucked it up shutting close.

"I hope that's the last poltergeist we deal with." Lina said with a huff.

"But poltergeists mean more money." Filia protested.

"My gun is almost at empty." Lina pointed to her battery gage which was blinking its' low battery warning. "If we need all three of us to get one down then I might not be much help."

"Hmmm... I need to see if I can up the battery capacity on them." Filia mused looking at her own gun's battery level.

"Miss Lina you scan and I'll lead." Sylphiel suggested pointing to Lina's scanner on her belt.

"I don't feel comfortable with that. Couldn't we just switch packs?" Lina suggested with a frown. "Alright let's go to the basement."

...

Zelgadis found himself walking around a dark room. It was cold, so frightfully cold there was little or no light no matter which direction he went. "Hello?" He called out timidly. "Is anyone there?" His voice echoed in the darkness but no other voice responded back. "I don't know where I am or how I got here. Can anyone help me?" Zelgadis shivered trying to warm himself by rubbing his arms. But of course due to his current physical state that didn't help and he still felt the cold.

Zelgadis tried to remember how he got to where he was, wherever it was. The last thing he remembered was sitting in the Ghost Slayers mobile looking at the house Lina, Sylphiel and Filia were working at. He turned his head came face to face with some of the coldest greyest eyes he had ever seen.

'I must have gotten spooked and ended up teleporting again. But the last two times I ended up near Lina. But Lina's not here...' Or at least Zelgadis didn't think so. "Lina? Are you there? Lina I think I did it again. I got scared and ended up in a strange place. Lina I don't know where I am. Can you hear me?" The silence confirmed what Zelgadis feared. Not only did he not know where he was, but he was alone to boot.

A gust of wind blew by and Zelgadis could have sworn he heard something that sounded like dark laughter on the dying breeze.


	23. Chapter 23

_Author's Notes: Sorry for the lateness. I had most of this part written in my notebook and was planning on typing it up on Sunday when I got home. But then I didn't end up getting home till it was way too late. Hopefully it was worth the wait. ^_~_

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-three

By Relm

The more Zelgadis walked around the more lost he felt. And it was getting colder, much colder. The room he discovered wasn't as large as he first thought and there didn't appear to be any windows or doors to escape. It was like he was stuck in a large box or a prison.

Now for someone who could walk through walls being trapped in a room with no physical means to escape wouldn't be that distressing. Initially however Zelgadis forgot that he could go through walls and got quite distressed. An extreme wave of claustrophobia hit him making him start to panic. It took him a little while to re-register the fact that he could walk through things. With that piece of information firmly re-planted into his non-physical brain Zelgadis went to test one of the walls of his prison.

But even though he was pretty much a ghost his hands or any other part of his body for that matter couldn't go through the very solid and very cold wall.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Zelgadis screamed. "SOMEONE HELP ME! I'M TRAPPED! IS ANYONE THERE?"

But alas there was no one there to hear him. Or if there was they didn't care to answer or help the trapped man.

...

With Sylphiel leading Lina and Filia followed her down to the basement of the Parson's home. Since getting rid of most of the ghosts in the residence the home felt considerable warmer than it had been. But as the trio of Ghost Slayers discovered the basement was still quite chilly.

Having a cold basement didn't mean there was a ghost haunting the place. A lot of basements were quite cool at any given time of the year. So it was more than likely that the basement wasn't haunted.

Of course Lina's scanner disagreed. "There's definite ghost activity here." Lina whispered.

"Multiples or one?" Sylphiel whispered as she almost reached the bottom step.

"Based on the readings I've got it's either a few low levels or one mid level ghost."

The lights that had been on in the basement before the trio had descended the stairs started to flicker once they got to the bottom. Off and on they flickered as if it were mocking them.

As Lina swept her scanner across the room she felt a strong force knock it out of her hands. "Ahhh!" Lina exclaimed in annoyance. "This one's a playful one."

When Lina went to pick up her scanner it moved on her rising to the air and floating around in circles. Since it was so close to the ghost the scanner made all kinds of racket.

Sylphiel took this as a cue to zap the ghost with her scanner. Her beam hit the ghost momentarily stunning it, but the ghost managed to free itself.

Though smart enough to get out of a stunning electrical zap the ghost wasn't smart enough to let go of the scanner.

"Hurry it's trying to get away!" Lina yelled while chasing after it. Not that Lina could do much, but if she kept it distracted so it wouldn't try and leave the room.

Sylphiel and Filia both tried to zap the ghost. But the ghost knew what would happen if it got hit so it avoided the beams.

"Be careful! You almost crossed the beams!" Lina screeched. Not that crossing the beams was a definitely bad thing to do; it was more that they didn't know what would have happen if they did cross. Hoping to distract the ghost Lina picked up a random object from the ground and threw it at the ghost.

The ghost stopped what it was doing.

Lina didn't need to see the ghost to know it was glaring at her. Especially when it turned the scanner and pointed it at her.

While Lina had the ghost distracted Filia and Sylphiel took that chance to zap the ghost.

The ghost flailed around the room lighting up brighter than a Christmas tree. It knocked things around but the beams held this time; it wasn't getting away. It tried to hit one of the two Ghost Slayers that had it trapped with Lina's scanner hurling it at them. But it missed and Sylphiel and Filia held their ground.

Wasting no time Lina readied the containment box and slid it across the floor and under the ghost. "NOW!"

Guiding the ghost downward Sylphiel and Filia got the ghost into the box.

The room immediately warmed up and the lights went back to their normal lightness.

"Is the room clear?" Sylphiel asked while making a sweep of the room with her gun.

Lina picked up her scanner and went to scan. But it just beeped once and shorted out. "I think it got busted when it hit the ground."

Filia pulled out her own scanner and checked the room. "It's clear."

"Okay then." Lina put her broken scanner on her belt with a triumphant grin. "Time to go upstairs and give the Parsons a call. Money is a waiting!"

...

Zelgadis sat on the cold floor curled into a ball. He desperately tried to get some warmth back into his limbs. But it was in vain; his body was as cold as ice.

He was scared. Of all the crazy things that had happened in the past two days this was by far the worst. He didn't know where he was, how he got there and how to get out.

'What if I am near Lina after all? Maybe I'm stuck in one of her containment boxes.' That thought brought chills up and down Zelgadis' spine.

'The boxes are cold one they have a ghost in them... And it's cold here... If I'm in a box Lina would noticed it's me when she unloads it. But can she get me out of the machine once I'm in there?'

With little options of things to do Zelgadis went back to yelling for help. "HEEEEEEEEEEELP! IS ANYONE THERE? I'M TRAPPED!"

...

"Is it okay to leave Mister Zelgadis alone in the car for so long while we wait for the Parsons?" Sylphiel asked once they got outside after Lina called the Parsons. "Shouldn't we check on him?" Sylphiel looked at the Ghost Sayersmobile worriedly.

"They shouldn't be too long; they are at a restaurant a few blocks over. Besides I don't want to draw any more attention to him. The last thing we need is to be accused of added ghosts to a place rather than slaying them. He should be fine." Lina insisted. But even as sure as she was he looked over to where they left Zelgadis. The windows were somewhat fogged up so it was hard to see who or what was in inside. 'No he's fine, stop worrying so much.' Lina berated herself. The sound of a car engine brought the red head out her thoughts as the Parsons drove down the street and pulled into their driveway.

Mr and Mrs. Parson looked very happy when they exited their car. Joy and Peter were both asleep, and Mr and Mrs. Parson looked like they were tired too carrying their youngsters but it didn't seem to dampen their spirits.

"Thank you so much!" Mr. Parson went to shake Lina's hand while manoeuvring the hold on his sleeping son so he could free a hand. "You don't understand how much this means to us."

"Yes thank you!" Mrs. Parson also thanked them and handed Lina the cheque.

Lina had told them over the phone how many ghosts they dealt with and what the cost would be for it. She had been expecting shock over the size of the bill but the Parsons had been fine with it. In fact the only thing that seemed to distress them was that one of the poltergeists had been in Joy's room. There's no telling what sort of danger the baby might have been in if the house had been left as is. So the Parsons were just thankful.

Lina almost let out a giddy giggle when she actually saw the amount on the cheque. But she refrained from doing so.

"How much is the cheque?" Filia asked right as soon as the Parson's went into their home. "They didn't write the full amount did they?"

"Nope! The cheque is exactly the amount I discussed with them over the phone."

"Then it must be post dated." Filia insisted.

"No, it's a good cheque that we can cash any time. This is great! And hopefully we'll get more business from this street after the Parsons talk to the neighbours. Look how many ghosts we had just in the Parson's house. I can't even imagine how many there are in that mega haunted house." Dollar signs were in Lina's eyes as she went back to dreaming about riches again.

"Well if we're going to take on that house we're going to need more batter power for the guns for sure. And a lot more containment boxes." Filia mused holding up just a few of the boxes they had filled with ghosts. Each of them had brought two boxes with them with a few more extra in the trunk if needed.

"You're also going to have to fix my scanner."

Filia frowned. "Is it completely busted?"

"I don't know." Lina tried to turn it on again. It beeped for a couple seconds before going to dead again. And then beeped some more and then silence. "It kinda works a little I guess?" Since it cut out Lina didn't bother to shut it off. It appeared to be dead anyway.

"Probably a short in one of the wires." Filia mused. "I can fix those easy enough. Or make another one if it can't be fixed."

"Well we'll definitely have the money to get more stuff if we need it!" Lina waved the cheque around in the air. "Amelia is going to flip when she sees how much we got!"

"That's got to be smoothest time we've had getting paid for a residential job. Usually they are hesitant to hand over the cash." Sylphiel mused as she put her stuff into the trunk of the Ghost Slayersmobile.

"Maybe they were okay with it because they knew the cheque was going to bounce." Filia darkly joked.

Lina glared at Filia. "If it does I'm going to smack you."

Filia just rolled her eyes as she also put her stuff in the trunk of the car. "Have you cashed the Sailune Publishing cheque yet?"

"Not yet. With all the excitement with Zel's condition I haven't gotten around to it. I didn't want to make multiple trips to the bank so I wanted to wait until we got paid for this job before I cashed that cheque. But I probably should have done it this afternoon when I was bored out of my skull. Oh well, I'm not worried about that cheque bouncing. Big companies like that rarely have fund problems. I'll probably cash them both tomorrow." Lina explained as she took off her pack and threw it in with Filia and Sylphiel's stuff. "We'd better get back, I'm sure Amelia is freaking out about what to do with Xellos."

As the trio of Ghost Slayers were about to go into the car Lina had this odd feeling that Zelgadis wasn't going to be in the car.

'That's silly.' Lina mentally shook her head. 'He wouldn't take off like that anyway. No he has to be in the car.' But even as Lina thought this she still looked in the back as she got into the driver's seat.

Sitting in the back in the seat closest to the curb appeared to be Zelgadis sitting staring at the house the Ghost Slayers had just dealt with.

Lina almost let out a sigh of relief when she saw Zelgadis. But this made her frown. 'What were you thinking you silly twit? Of course he's there. He may be stuck in a ghostly body but that doesn't mean he's stupid.'

While Lina started up the car Filia got herself situated in the front passenger seat while Sylphiel sat in the back with Zelgadis.

"Are you doing okay Mister Zelgadis?" Sylphiel asked when she buckled her seatbelt.

Zelgadis turned his head from the window and nodded with a very strange smile to his face.

Sylphiel didn't notice anything strange about Zelgadis even when he turned his head back to look out the window.

"Is it me or is it a bit cold in here?" Sylphiel shivered while trying to rub some warmth back into her arms.

"We'll we've been dealing with ghosts for like the past hours. So I would be surprised if you didn't feel a bit cold. Plus the car was parked outside at night near an overly haunted house. It's bound to be a bit cold in here. I'm sure it will warm up when we get away from this street." Lina assured Sylphiel as she pulled out into the street.

As the car went over a bump in the road Lina's broken scanner started going off in the trunk. It was beeping furiously signalling the presence of a ghost even as the car got further and further away from the haunted neighbourhood. But even with its' warning beeps a blaring the trio of Ghost Slayers couldn't hear it over the sound of the car engine.

...

Zelgadis kept yelling for help till his throat got too raw and his voice hoarse. Had he not been so confused and frightened he might pondered the soreness in his throat.

Since becoming a 'ghost' the physical pains that Zelgadis had experienced were only when he was zapped with electricity. The only sensations he had felt was the cold and sleepiness. He hadn't suffered from normal human aches and pains. No stiff or sore muscles to contend with at all.

So this 'new' sensation of pain should have registered at least a little bit of interest in Zelgadis. But in reality there was only one thought running through his mind.

'Where am I?'


	24. Chapter 24

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-four

By Relm

Perhaps it was because the job had been so long and tiresome that no one chose to make small talk. The whole ride back to Ghost Slayers HQ was extremely quiet.

It wasn't until they pulled into the parking lot that Lina decided to break the spell of silence.

"What do you guys want to do first? Deal with the boxes, pack or Xellos?"

"Let's take everything upstairs with us. We're probably going to need our stuff if we're going to have to zap Xellos." Filia mused thinking about how good it would be to give Xellos a good jolt of electricity.

"Alright Xellos first then. But Filia I want to examine him first. So no trigger happiness till I say so." Lina said sternly.

"Are you coming Mister Zelgadis?" Sylphiel asked Zelgadis whom appeared to still be in the car staring out the window. He looked to Sylphiel; smiled and nodded and got out the car by going through it.

"You're being awfully quite." Lina mused. "You're probably just as tired as us."

Zelgadis didn't answer he just nodded.

...

"It's about time you guys got back!" Amelia exclaimed meeting her fellow Ghost Slayers in the hall.

"Where is Xellos?" Lina asked right away.

"Exactly where he's been all this time, in the break room staring at a wall." Amelia opened the door and showed the other just exactly what she meant. "It's creepy!" She insisted. "He just sits there staring!"

"Has he done anything else besides sitting and staring?" Lina leaned down to look at Xellos at eye level. She waved a hand in front of his face but failed to stir any reaction from the professor.

"Well he was writing on a pad of paper that appeared out of nowhere."

"Kinda like Zel's newspaper." Lina mused. "What was he writing on the paper?"

Amelia sweatdropped. "Why would you want to know that?" She laughed nervously.

"Because it might give us a clue s to what he was doing before he got attacked."

"Oh I don't think what Mister Xellos was randomly scribbling would be helpful." Amelia rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Amelia what was it?" Lina growled. She was getting real tired of Amelia not cooperating.

"He was just writing one word over and over again. He wasn't even looking at the paper either! I don't think he knew what he was writing."

"Amelia you tell me or I'm going to use your head as a bongo drum!" Lina threatened her youngest employee.

"Miss Filia's name." Amelia finally responded with her head hung low in shame.

"WHAT?" Filia screeched. Her face was red and crazed. It was hard to tell if she was angry or embarrassed or both. "Why would that piece of garbage do something like _that_?" Filia grabbed Amelia by the collar while shaking her.

"I don't know!" Amelia cried out.

Sylphiel ignored what was going on and went to scan Xellos. But just as Amelia had discovered the only ghost activity wasn't coming from the professor. She was getting odd readings from a mass behind her. "That's odd I've got ghost reading in this room." Sylphiel mumbled turning around.

Slimer floated around behind Sylphiel and smiling at her extra gooey.

"I guess I'm just picking up you then..." Sylphiel mused. "But it looked like there for a moment I thought I was picking up two ghost signals..."

"We might have another ghostly hitchhiker... again." Lina scrunched her face into a frown. "Zel did you see any weird ghosts hiding in the car?" Lina went to ask him but Zelgadis wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Odd he was here just a moment ago..."

"So can I zap him now?" Filia pulled out her gun sporting a rather nasty grin on her face.

"Shoot him once just to see what he does. I know you'd love to fry him but let's not go too crazy."

Filia fired up her gun and shot Xellos. The electrical beam hit Xellos pulsating through him making him convulse in pain.

Just like the first time Zelgadis got zapped Xellos disappeared.

"Where did he go?" Filia looked around the room.

"Probably somewhere around the building. Zel disappeared the first time we shot him too. Then he popped up in the car. I doubt Xellos has gone far. If you want to zap him again you're going to have to look for him." Lina joked. "Did you want me to put my broken scanner in your lab while you go hunting?"

Filia nodded. "I'll fix it later. Also why don't you leave your pack in my lab too? I'll see if I can do something the battery power."

"I'll go do that. Sylphiel could you started loading the ghosts into the machine?"

"Sure." Sylphiel put her pack into the charger and started putting the containment boxes together.

"What do you want me to do?" Amelia asked her boss eagerly. She was tired but she eager to do something that wasn't sitting around waiting or cleaning.

"Help Sylphiel. And when the two of you are done help Filia look for Xellos. And keep your scanners handy. If there's another ghost floating around I'd like to know it." Lina ordered her crew before they all split up.

On her way to Filia's lab Lina tinkered with her broken scanner. She turned it on and off over and over again testing to see if it would work. It would start up like it was going to work and then it would cut out. Each time it seemed like it was getting readings before it cut itself off.

'Probably getting false readings. I can't trust anything this scanner until Filia fixes is.' Lina mused as she put it back on her belt.

Though the scanner was faulty its' readings were correct. Lina wasn't alone in that hall. Something was there with her and it was following her.

Lina stretched trying to get some of kinks out of her swore muscles. Though slaying ghosts wasn't as physically demanding as other jobs it could be very stressing. Not knowing when something was going to come at you or if something was watching you from a dark corner. And when you were stressed you usually unconsciously tensed your muscles. So Lina felt both exhausted and tired. 'When I get home I'm going to take a nice long hot bath... Well wait if I take a bath I might fall asleep not want to get up. Shower is safer but requires standing...'

As Lina went to turn the knob on the door Filia's lab the scanner on her belt came to life again. It beeped like crazy warning Lina of a nearby ghost.

Lina looked down at her belt at the scanner that didn't seem to want to shut up. "You again?" Lina said annoyed at her scanner. "There's no ghosts here." She scolded it.

The scanner didn't listen to her; it just continued to keep on beeping.

"Alright fine I'll humour you and look around." Lina did a visual scan of the hall. As she expected she didn't see anything. "Unless it's a non-visual spectre then there's no ghost. And even if there is a real ghost and it's a non-visual I'm not going to worry about. Because I'm too tired to. So there." Lina stuck her tongue out at her scanner and it shut itself off. "Thank you."

As Lina went into the lab and closed the door the figure that had been following her came back into the hall and stared at the lab door with a devious smile.

Lina took off her gun pack and put it on Filia's work table as well as the broken scanner. The moment the scanner touched the table surface it started up again.

"Oh for god's sake will you shut up!" Lina picked it back up and this time shut it off. "There much better." Lina let out a sigh and went to turn around to leave and came face to face with someone standing behind her. "AHHHHH!" Lina screamed recoiling backwards. "Zel! Damnit you scared me!" Lina yelled at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis just stood there smiling at her.

"Oh wipe that smug smile off your face! I'm tired okay so that's the only reason why you managed to scare me. So don't go bragging the others alright?"

Again Zelgadis didn't say anything he just continued smiling.

In the back of Lina's head she found this quite smiling odd but she chose not to comment. "You remember this place right? Filia's palace of torture. Of course she's got a new victim to experiment, that is if she can find him first. He just disappeared. But that's not a big surprise. You disappeared the first time you got zapped. I just hope he didn't end up in one of the buildings next door. I'd give them a call to warn them but I know it's too late. They would be closed for the day. I'll have to call them tomorrow." Lina said while yawning and stretching. "I should close up shop here today too. I'm beat."

More silent smiling from Zelgadis.

"Zel what's wrong with you? You're not speaking at all. It's like you've regressed back to what you were like when I first met you. Do we need to shock you again?" Lina wondered out loud.

Still no verbal response from Zelgadis.

"Hmm... I'll take that as a yes." Lina turned around and picked up her gun. "I don't have much power left but I should have enough to give you one good shock." When Lina turned around to look at Zelgadis again he wasn't smiling anymore.

No he was glaring and his gray eyes were bloodshot.

Lina almost jumped. "Whoa you look kinda creepy there Zel. And when did your eyes turn gray? They were blue before."

Instead of answering Lina, Zelgadis shoved Lina and sent her flying backwards into the wall behind her with the gun and battery pack hitting the wall with her. Her cell phone also went flying during the impact but it flew far across the room smashing onto a desk.

Lina groggily tried to get to her feet but _Zelgadis_ was too quick.

He picked her up by her neck and held her up against the wall.

"ZEL?" Lina yelled while being choked. "Why are you doing this?"

Zelgadis didn't answer he just smiled rather evilly.

Lina tried to kick her assailant into dropping her. But of course when your attacker is a ghost you can't physically hit them into letting you go. So that left Lina with only two options. Scream or fight. "Eat this!" Lina fired up the gun and hit Zelgadis with a close range blast of energy.

...

Inside the box a flash of light filled the room almost blinding Zelgadis. "What's going on? What is this light?" Zelgadis tried to look around to make sense of the light. But it was too bright that he could see what it was and where it was coming from. But one thing was for sure, it wasn't overly cold anymore.

...

Lina's blast freed her from being choked and sent _Zelgadis _flying backwards.

He glared at her getting back up. If he wasn't angry before he was now.

"Okay either you've completely lost it Zel, or that isn't you." Lina looked around frantically any means to get out of the room. Ghosts could go through walls but at least if you were going to deal with a ghost it was better to do so in a large room. Not a small lab. But there was only one door leading back out into the hall and _Zelgadis_ was standing right in front of it.

One thing Lina did spy was one of the extra containment boxes Filia had made.

Lina fired up her gun and shot Zelgadis one more time as she ran to get at the box.

But even as Zelgadis was being shocked he still had the strength to knock the box away from Lina.

"Damn!" Lina cursed as the box smashed against the wall and broke in half. Things got worse as the last of Lina's battery power gave out leaving her with no weapon.

_Zelgadis _or the thing before Lina that looked like Zelgadis smiled once more.

At that moment Lina had only one option left. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Lina screamed at the top of her lungs.

...

The bright light died down and room got colder but Zelgadis heard what he heard. A woman screaming for help. And not just any woman, it was Lina.

"LINA?" Zelgadis yelled rushing to the wall where he heard the screaming from. "LINA WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT'S GOING ON?" Zelgadis tried desperately to break the wall. He punched at it repeatedly hoping to bring it down or make a hold. But even with his knuckles bloodied it was in vain the wall remained as it was. "Lina..." He said pathetically collapsing to the ground.


	25. Chapter 25

_Author's Notes: If medical procedures depicted in this part are incorrect I'm sorry. I blame Hollywood for wrong things. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-Five

By Relm

Filia was checking one of the empty rooms of the old police station turned Ghost Slayers headquarters when she heard the screaming. She knew right away that it was Lina and she was yelling for help. If it were Sylphiel or Amelia then Filia might have not been so concerned. Though neither girl was by any means a coward them squealing out in fright wasn't out of the ordinary. From falling drywall to scampering mice the two of them tended to scream often.

But Lina screaming, and screaming for help no less was big reason to be concerned. A very big reason to be concerned.

With her ray gun armed Filia went running.

...

When Amelia and Sylphiel heard Lina they had just finished putting the first load of ghosts into the machine and were back to grab the rest.

"That's sounds like Miss Lina!" Amelia exclaimed.

"Amelia get your gun we have to go!" Sylphiel grabbed her partially charged pack and the two of them ran down the hall towards the labs. The two ran so fast that they almost ran right into Filia.

"Did you hear Lina?" Filia asked stopping to catch her breath.

"_HEEEEEEEEEELP!" _A tortured cry came from inside Filia's lab to affirm the trio's fears.

All three of Ghost Slayers in the hall had their scanners on. And all three scanners were going crazy. There was definitely a ghost in the room with Lina.

Right away Sylphiel, Amelia and Filia tried to get the door open. But as they soon found out the door was locked.

"LINA!" Filia yelled. "WE CAN'T GET IN! THE DOOR IS LOCKED!"

...

As Lina got knocked into another wall trying to get away from the ghost that looked like Zelgadis she heard Filia and the others trying to get in. She hadn't seen _Zelgadis_ lock the door, but ghosts could move things with their minds so it wasn't a stretch to believe that he locked the door the moment he got in. "THEN BREAK IT DOWN!" Lina yelled desperately as _Zelgadis _got her in another choke hold.

...

On the other side door the trio was trying to do just that. But none of the girls were accustomed to breaking down doors. Usually if some sort of brute force was needed it was Lina that usually did it. Rarely was it Lina the one in danger needing help. Lina was usually the savoir not the damsel in distress.

Repeated bashing into the door proved to be futile. And the only weapons they had in hand was their guns and they knew that they would most likely need those if they got the door down.

...

Up until this point Slimer had been floating around the building tracking where the new _ghost _Xellos was going.

Xellos didn't seem to have a destination in mind he just explored the building aimlessly.

Slimer was intent on following Xellos until he made his new _friend_ acknowledge him. The thought didn't occur to him that perhaps Xellos was just leery of Slimer and was trying to get away. But as Slimer passed through one wall he came into the hallway where Filia, Sylphiel and Amelia were bashing on the door. He knew which room was beyond that door, he'd been in that room many times. It was Filia's lab.

Even before his death Slimer wasn't known for complicated thinking. Looking at the desperation in his friends' eyes and actions he knew something was wrong. But he lacked the concentration to grasp the situation. So Slimer just floated on over to them hovering behind them watching.

"Damnit!" Filia cursed. "LINA WE CAN'T BREAK DOWN THE DOOR!"

The trio waited for an answer from their leader but all they heard were things being knocked around.

Slimer cocked his head to one side. With his limited understanding he knew that something was going on in the lab and the others wanted to get in but they couldn't.

"MISS LINA PLEASE ANSWER!" Sylphiel pleaded.

All they heard was the sound of tortured breathing.

Slimer opened his mouth in surprise and a big glop of goo fell to the ground alerting the others of his presence.

"Slimer!" Amelia exclaimed. "You have to help, Miss Lina is in danger!"

...

Lina desperately fought for air as the ghost choked her. Her assailant seemed to enjoy toying with her. He'd choke her till she was close to passing out before tossing her body across the room. But before she had a chance to recover the ghost would go back to choking her.

All seemed hopeless as Lina flailed around helplessly. 'I'm going to die.' Lina thought miserably. 'Ghost Slayer slayed by ghost... that will be a great headline for the papers. My life and my death will be a joke for the world to read.' She was about to give up, she really was, that is until she saw that green floating blob go through the door.

Slimer smiled a gooey grin before unlocking the door.

Right as soon as that click of the lock sounded the door swung open with the other three Ghost Slayers bursting into the room.

"Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia exclaimed in horror as she watched the ghost who looked the man that wasn't quite a ghost choking the life out of her boss.

"It's...not...ack...Zel!" Lina managed to choke out.

"What are we going to do?" Sylphiel looked around desperately. "If we fire the gun we're going to hit Miss Lina!"

"Just...do...it!" Lina ordered them.

"But I don't know what that will do to a human!" Filia protested.

"I'm...dead...anyway...!"

Slimer tried to get distract the ghost into letting Lina go. But the ghost that looked like Zelgadis just flung him off to the side as though Slimer was lighter than a feather. Slimer hadn't been able to touch Zelgadis before because Zelgadis wasn't a real ghost. But this wasn't Zelgadis.

It really was a ghost. And a nasty one too.

Filia charged her gun and took aim.

"Miss Filia!" Amelia protested. "You can't!"

"We have to! You saw what it did to Slimer! It's not going to stop until Lina is dead. We have to! All three of us! This thing is at least as powerful as a poltergeist!" Filia exclaimed shooting her gun hitting the ghost that looked like Zelgadis in the back.

Begrudgingly Amelia and Sylphiel did the same.

...

Inside his dark prison Zelgadis felt the white hot light all over him. It was so bright and so warm that it felt like he was being embraced by the sun. He saw the cracks in the wall that the light made. Cracks where Zelgadis had been trying to break the wall down previously. The light shined through weakening the bonds that held the wall in place.

With his bloodied fists Zelgadis went back to striking the wall. He wasn't going to stop till he broke it down.

...

The pain was immense. Lina had never experience such pain before. Sure she had been shocked before by her gun, the one she had before Filia made one that was more stable. She used to get shocked all the time. But having three guns indirectly shocking her was a different kind of pain.

_Zelgadis _struggled to keep his hold on Lina's neck. And in doing so created a current for the electricity to follow. With each pulse of energy Lina felt like her whole body was on fire. As hard as it was endure Lina knew it was working. _Zelgadis' _hold was weakening.

...

With one good hard hit Zelgadis broke the wall and was surrounded by the light. It bathed him in a painful blast of pure energy. "AHHHHHHHH!" He yelled.

...

The sight was a strange one. There was the ghostly form of Zelgadis still holding onto Lina convulsing in pain with another ghostly form was being expelled from his back.

It was monstrous looking man with wild white hair and cold gray eyes. As the second ghost was being expelled from Zelgadis the energy from the guns focused on the new ghost. Once the ghost was completely expelled from Zelgadis' body both him and Lina fell the ground in an unmoving heap. This other ghost however still flailed around the room trying to free itself from the beam.

"We have to get a containment box!" Filia yelled trying to keep her hold on her gun. The force of this poltergeist was so strong that she had to fight to keep her gun in her hands.

"If one of us let's go the ghost is going to get away!" Sylphiel declared as she too fought to hold on.

"Well one of us has to! I don't think Miss Lina is awake!" Amelia said miserably. They could barely see their leader as she had fallen behind on the lab tables. What they could see of her wasn't moving. 'Please let her still be alive!'

"What are we going to do? My gun is running out of power!" Filia noted looking down at her gun. It was beeping at her signalling the low power.

Slimer answered that question as he grabbed one of the spare boxes on Filia's pack and activated it and quickly slid over to the poltergeist before it opened.

"Good work Slimer!" Filia cheered as she and the other two Ghost Slayers guided the ghost down into the box.

The poltergeist fought the whole way down into the box but it shut closed trapping him inside.

"Miss Lina!" Sylphiel and Amelia both cried out as the four of them went over to see what had happened to their leader.

Lina lay motionless on the ground with Zelgadis equally emotionless lying on top of her. He stirred first looking at Lina in horror. "Lina!" Zelgadis tried to shake her awake but it was apparent that wasn't going to happen.

"Get out of the way!" Filia shoved Zelgadis off Lina and got medical kit ready. Since knowing how dangerous electricity can be Filia was always prepared for the worst. She wasn't a medical doctor, but she knew her way around electrical equipment. As Sylphiel prepped Lina Filia charged up the defibrillator and gave Lina a shock.

Lina's body convulsed but her heart didn't respond.

"Again!" Filia shocked Lina.

Again Lina's body convulsed, but this time her heart responded.

...

When Lina woke up hours later she felt like she had been hit by a ton of bricks. Her whole body hurt particularly on her neck and chest. It felt like it was burned. As she tried to get up she felt gentle hands guide her back onto the bed she had been resting in. She looked up annoyed by the person preventing her from getting out of bed. But as she realized it was Sylphiel and a very worried looking Sylphiel at that Lina stopped resisting. "What happened?" Lina managed to choke out. Her voice was very hoarse as her throat was still very much sore.

"Try not to talk." Sylphiel advised her.

Lina's eyes darted around the room and she saw Amelia and Filia both looking like they had the life scared out of them. Slimer was there too looking extremely worried which was a stark contrast to his normal cheeriness. Lastly Lina's eyes fell on Zelgadis who sat in the corner with his face buried in his hands. There was something wrong with the way Zelgadis looked but Lina's brain was too foggy to figure out what it was. She looked back to Sylphiel as if to re-ask with her eyes that same question she previously posed.

"You were attacked by a poltergeist. It did hitch a ride with us back to Ghost Slayers HQ like you thought." Sylphiel explained. "But it wasn't riding in the car with us. It was riding in Mister Zelgadis."

"Looks like while he was waiting in the car for us a poltergeist decided to possess him." Filia elaborated.

"It used me to try and kill you!" Zelgadis exclaimed miserably. While being possessed the only thing Zelgadis remembered was being stuck in that prison and the light. Filia and Sylphiel were the ones to fill in the gaps. That prison he had been in was a mental one. The ghost hijacked his body and locked his mind away. Once free and told what happened Zelgadis felt awful. He wanted to run away. Lina was the one person he trusted most after being stuck in his strange situation and he'd almost killed her! But as much as he wanted to leave he couldn't. Sylphiel, Filia and Amelia refused to let him out of their sights.

"As you can see Zelgadis here is feeling very guilty." Filia rolled her eyes. "Even though he had no control at all while he was being possessed. He told us he managed to pick up a photo frame while at your home this morning. It's possible the poltergeist saw that Zelgadis had more physical control than a ghost and decided to take advantage of it. More likely it chose to attack you because you have the strongest connection to Zelgadis."

"In order to stop the poltergeist who was strangling you we shot it." Sylphiel continued to explain. "But it still had its hands around your neck so it created a current. You got shocked too. When we managed to trap the ghost your heart had stopped. Miss Filia managed to shock your heart back to life and I bandaged your wounds. But you need rest. I'd prefer that you'd be resting at your place or one of our homes but we didn't want to move you too far."

Looking around Lina realized that she was in that makeshift bedroom she had set up in Ghost Slayers HQ. 'Looks like the bed was a good idea after all.' Lina thought bitterly.

"We're going to have one of us stay with you at all times at least for tonight." Amelia tried to assure Lina. In Amelia's mind she had decided to stay the whole night by Lina's bed to keep an eye on her. But when she told Filia and Sylphiel her plans both of them disagreed. Yes someone staying there with Lina was a good idea but not the same person the whole night.

Lina shook her head. She didn't like the idea one bit.

Sylphiel frowned. "I know you like to do things on your own and not have people take care of you, but we're not taking no for an answer. This is what is going to happen. Amelia is going to stay with you first while Miss Filia and I are going to get some food and sleeping bags. Slimer and Zelgadis are going to stay with you too."

Lina looked over to Zelgadis again now starting to make sense of why he seemed so strange before. She couldn't see through him like before. He was solid!

Zelgadis felt the stare and made the wrong assumption. "I shouldn't stay! Clearly Lina doesn't want the guy who almost strangled her death staying in the room with her while she sleeps!" Zelgadis tried to get out of the room but Filia grabbed his arm and pushed him back into the chair.

This action really made Lina's eyes go wide. "How?" Lina choked out. Though it was one word it conveyed the whole question that Lina was meaning. How was Zelgadis solid again?

"He got hit with three gun's worth of energy. It's made him solid for the time being. Just like when it gave him back his mental alertness and momentary ability to touch things. Because we don't know how long it's going to last I don't want him out of our sight." Filia said sternly.

Zelgadis who looked rather glum dared to look up at Lina. What he saw shocked him.

She was smiling. And she also motioned for him to come to her bed.

Cautiously Zelgadis moved over to her side and sat in the chair by it.

The first thing Lina did was touch his arm. It felt real and solid like a normal person. Next she touched his face. It was soft and warm. Blood rushed to the man's cheeks under her touch causing him to blush.

Then Lina smacked him over the head so hard that it knocked the ghostly man's face right into the bed. There was a satisfied smugness to Lina's lips as she smiled.

"Ow... I guess I deserved that." Zelgadis also smiled as he gingerly rubbed his sore head.

It was then that Lina noticed the bloodied bandages on Zelgadis' knuckles. She looked at them questioningly.

"Oh that?" Zelgadis looked at his hands sheepishly. "I hurt them trying to break out. I heard your screams for help. I guess what happens in my mind happens to my body too." He explained.

Lina frowned. Things were just getting stranger and stranger.


	26. Chapter 26

_Author's Notes: I really scrambled for time to write this part. As such I didn't get time to proof read it. (this is turning into a regular occurrence for me *sigh*) Sorry for any errors. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-Six

By Relm

Once the bedding was taken care of the next thing to take care of was food. Just for simplicity sake they ordered pizza. It was an easy thing where they could get something to suit everyone's tastes. And when it came to pizza everyone pretty much liked anything so it worked well. As per usual they had to order from more than one place; however they would arrive at more or less the same time.

Lina was extremely looking forward to the pizza she knew was coming. Her stomach growled so loud you'd think there was a lion in her belly. Yes Lina was really exciting about the pizza.

The others however were leery of letting Lina eat.

"She was strangled and electrocuted... Is it okay to let Miss Lina eat solid food?" Sylphiel wondered worriedly. "You always seen on TV and movies that doctors don't let their patients eat solid foods right away when it comes to problems with their throats."

"That's because they had a breathing tube shoved down their throat. I don't think that's same as our situation." Filia mused.

"We should really take her to a doctor." As soon as that left Sylphiel's lips she was dodging a flying pillow.

The person throwing the pillow? Lina of course.

Since she wasn't 'allowed' to talk she had to use other methods to get her points across. At the moment Lina was flashing a very disapproving glare.

"Yes Lina we know. We don't have medical insurance to cover ghost attacks. Doctors don't count those as real injuries." Filia said sarcastically. The world didn't count their job as real people jobs that require things like insurance. Getting the world to take Ghost Slayers seriously was a losing battle.

"Maybe the internet has some sites that can tell us what we should do?" Amelia suggested.

"Go look." Filia ordered Amelia. "Better we know now if we need to get different foods."

Lina threw another pillow in retaliation. If pizza was coming then that's what she was going to eat. No one was going to stop her.

Zelgadis was oblivious to everything that was going on around him. He was still sitting in the chair by Lina's bed but he failed to register the current conversations. His focus was on his hands. They were solid and had been solid for a few hours. A small part of him wanted to believe this was it, he was normal again. That rational side of him repeatedly told him that this was temporary; it wasn't going to last. But to hope was a dangerous thing. If he allowed himself to hope then he was going to be crushed when everything fell through and he went back to being a 'ghost'.

One thing that told him he wasn't 'cured' was his state of mind. Things still seemed foggy. The memories he lost when he got attacked didn't miraculously return to him. The things he knew and learned throughout of his life were also a blur.

One the table to Zelgadis' right there was a pitcher of water and a couple glasses. Lina had drunk some water earlier but the pitcher was still pretty full.

With timid hands Zelgadis grabbed the pitcher and poured a glass. The water splashed around before it relented and went into its' intended vessel.

The glass was very cold against Zelgadis' fingers. The cols was so sharp and unexpected that Zelgadis recoiled snapping his hand back. He wondered if this intensity was normal. Did it always feel this cold? Or had he just forgotten what it felt like? Knowing he had spent all that time unknowingly 'hunting' Sailune Publishing was unnerving. That whole period of time gone made him feel robbed. Not that he remembered much of his life before, but it was still the principle. Had he been without physical form for so long that normal things were alien to him?

Putting his hands back around the glass he tried to endure the coldness. It was so frightfully cold that he felt like he was putting his fingers around a block of ice. But with the glass firmly in his hand he brought it up to his lips. The water was just as cold going down his throat and it was against his hands. It was so cold that Zelgadis couldn't help but cough. He almost choked on the cold liquid. But probably the strangest thing of all was that the water didn't taste like water. Or it didn't taste what Zelgadis remember water to taste like. The water was sweet; not as sweet as syrup but sweet nether less. It was like someone had dumped a couple spoonfuls of sugar into his glass when he wasn't looking.

Lina watched Zelgadis like a hawk while he experimented with the water. She was just curious as he was with this new temporarily physical form. She wanted to talk to him about he was feeling. It was obvious all over his face that he still felt bad about what the poltergeist had done with his body. Lina wanted to talk to him to make him understand that it was okay and that he wasn't to blame or what happened. But she wasn't supposed to talk so she couldn't say much. "How's it taste?" She whispered low enough so that Filia and Sylphiel wouldn't hear her.

Zelgadis blinked for a moment as he realized that question was directed at him. "It's weird," he set the glass down, "It's really cold, like too cold. Feel it, does that seem as cold as ice?"

Lina reached over and touched the glass. To her it seemed cold, but as cold as she would expect it to be. She looked at with an apologetic frown and shook her head.

Zelgadis' face fell. "I was afraid of that. It tastes funny too. It's sweet. Water isn't supposed to be sweet. You can try it if you want but I'm sure you'll say it's fine too."

Lina wasn't going to try the water but now she was curious. She had drunk the water earlier and it was fine. But maybe it was the glass, maybe there was something in it that made the water seem sweeter. Unable to resist the urge Lina grabbed the glass and took a sip.

Zelgadis watched her with hopeful eyes.

Lina wanted to convey he was right that there was something odd about the water. She really wanted to. It was especially hard to look at Zelgadis knowing how he was looking right back at her with so much hope in his eyes. She smiled at him but ended up shaking her head.

Zelgadis let out a deep sigh.

"Water can taste sweeter when you're dehydrated." Sylphiel interjected while handing Lina back her pillows.

"That's right it does..." Zelgadis scratched his head. "I should have known that. Did I know that...? Gah!" Zelgadis buried his face back into his hands in frustration.

Lina patted Zelgadis on the shoulder trying to make him feel better.

"I give up!" Amelia announced coming back into the room. "I can find tons of sites about electrocution and strangling but nothing that tells us exactly what we should do. And those 'ask a doctor' sites don't give you answers till at least the next day."

"So what should we do?" Sylphiel wondered.

"It's not like we can keep the pizza away from Lina." Filia rationalized. "If we tried we'd surely loose an arm."

Lina would have thrown one of her pillows again but it was true after all. There was nothing going to get in the way of her and her supper.

"I guess we're just going watch her carefully. Miss Lina is going to have to eat slowly." Sylphiel mused.

This time Lina threw her pillow.

"Yes you will eat slowly." Sylphiel threw the pillow back at Lina. "It's not like you have to fight for your food. No one is going to take it from you. So there's no reason why you have to eat super fast."

Lina frowned. She was hungry! How was she supposed to eat slowly when she was so hungry? It was torture.

"Maybe we should tie her down." Filia suggested with a chuckle. She got a pillow to her head for that comment.

"Miss Filia have you found Mister Xellos yet?" Amelia asking changing the subject.

"No." Filia scrunched her nose up in disgust. "I've done several sweeps of the building and I can't find him. I'm thinking the fruitcake is in one of the buildings next door. I'm done worrying about where he is. He can go be someone else's problem for now."

"Miss Filia you can't really mean that? Poor Mister Xellos was attacked! He's probably confused and doesn't know where he is! And what if he is in one of the other buildings and scares someone? You really don't care?" Amelia cried out in horror.

"Amelia the businesses in the other buildings are closed for the day! So there is no one there to contact about an annoying purple haired ghost stalking the halls. Nor would there be anyone there get scared in the first place!" Filia yelled back.

"What about if they have night cleaning staff?"

"They're still not going to answer the phone! So I'm not going to worry about it. And if you're so worried then you can over there and break in and look for the idiot."

Amelia frowned. She had nothing to say in reply so she just sat down and shut up. She might have eventually come up with some sort of retort had Slimer not come back into the room and disrupted her thoughts.

Slimer had taken off while back and no one was sure what the little green man was up to. But when he came back it was a bit perplexing when he returned with his mop and rolling yellow bucket.

Filia, Sylphiel and Amelia just looked at Slimer curiosity. There was no soapy water in the bucket so it didn't appear that Slimer was planning on cleaning anything.

Lina and Zelgadis knew the meaning of the bucket and the mop so both of them laughed out loud.

"What's with the bucket?" Filia just had to ask.

"Well you guys all got sleeping stuff so Slimer had to too." Zelgadis explained still laughing.

_BUZZ BUZZ!_ The loud speaker system blared sounded the first round of pizza ready at the door.

While Filia and Sylphiel went to get the pizza Amelia went to get some plates and napkins. It was hard to tell who was more excited about the pizza, Lina or Slimer. Both of them were drooling quite a bit.

"Okay we've got pizza from Gino's. So that's cheese, vegetarian and sausage." Filia announced as she and Sylphiel came back with the stacks of pizzas. The reason they only got those three kinds of pizzas from Gino was because those were their best three. They were getting other pizza varieties form the other places.

Lina motioned for one of the pizza to be handed to her. She didn't care which one she got anything was good to her.

"Miss Lina I really think I shouldn't hand you the whole pizza." Sylphiel commented with a frown.

Lina got a pillow ready to throw.

"No don't!" Sylphiel protested. "I'll end up dropping the boxes! Mister Zelgadis could you get one of the boxes from the top for Miss Lina?"

Zelgadis was hesitant to grab the box. He wasn't sure how long his physical form was going to last so he worried he would drop the box. And also given his reaction to the cold he was afraid that he was going to end up with an extreme burning sensation. But as his fingers touched the box the warmth from it felt wonderful. It was so nice that Zelgadis not only didn't want to give Lina the box he wanted to press his face against it. He didn't realize just how cold he felt.

A glare from Lina reminded Zelgadis what the pizza was for.

Reluctantly he handed over the box missing the feeling on his hands.

Lina looked at him questioningly as if to say 'what's up with you?'

"It's warm. It feels nice. I guess I didn't realize how cold I was until now." Zelgadis explained sitting back down in the chair by the bed.

Lina let out a sigh. This was one of those times where she wanted to go into a ghostly lecture about spirit properties but couldn't. Luckily for Lina, Sylphiel realized what Lina wanted to say.

"You were possessed by a poltergeist Mister Zelgadis," Sylphiel started to explain; "Ghosts are cold beings that draw in the heat of the area around them. So by having a ghost residing in your body it probably sapped out all the heat you had leaving you with a chill. You should probably wrap yourself in a blanket." Sylphiel suggested. She would have gotten Zelgadis a blanket had she not been juggling pizza boxes. It didn't help matters that Slimer was trying to take them all from her so he could eat them box and whole.

While Zelgadis grabbed one of the spare blankets Lina started in on her first pizza.

"Lina go slowly!" Filia commanded as she placed the boxes down.

Lina frowned and did what she was told. The pizza was so hot that it steamed as Lina pulled it out of the box. The cheese was gooey and just oozed off each slice. Even though it was just a simple cheese pizza it was a thing of beauty to a very hungry person.

Everyone except Slimer watched Lina like a hawk as she put the gooey pizza into her mouth.

Lina probably should have been concerned with so many people watching her while she was eating but she was too hungry to care. The hot pizza was a delight to Lina's senses and she couldn't have enjoyed it more. She couldn't help but moan it was so good!

"Okay Lina must really be hungry, because Gino's pizza isn't that good." Filia commented in disgust. They ordered from there mainly because it was close by and cheap. Yes it did have lost of gooey cheese but the crust was too doughy and they never put enough sauce on the pizza. "Lina how's your throat? Does it hurt?"

Lina shook her head. It did hurt a little bit but not enough to cause her enough discomfort to stop eating.

As Zelgadis eyed the pizza he felt his stomach rumbling. He wasn't sure if it was a delayed reaction to the water he drank of if he was actually feeling hungry.

Lina also notice this rumbling. She looked at Zelgadis questioningly. 'Is he hungry?' Lina did something she rarely did; she offered some of her food. Usually once food was placed in front of her for her to eat that was it; you weren't getting it back.

Zelgadis reached for the hot pizza and savoured the warmth it exuded. He had to pause once he got the slice in his hands. It was so warm and wonderful against his cold fingers.

This time everyone was watching Zelgadis, including Slimer. It's not every day you see a ghost turn 'living' and eat. Unlike Lina however Zelgadis did mind people staring at him while he ate. "Must you all watch me like that?"

"Just try it all ready!" Lina croaked out.

"Okay, here we go." Zelgadis brought the pizza to his mouth and it was like an explosion of flavour on his tongue. He couldn't remember ever having something tasting that good. "Oh my god!"

"Seriously it can't be that good." Filia grumbled and took a slice of another cheese pizza. It tasted just like she expected, okay but not the best thing in the world. "You two are nuts, nothing about this is worth moaning or raving about."

_BUZZ BUZZ!_

"Next batch of pizza is here!" Amelia said cheerily as she got up to go to the door.

Filia and Sylphiel did rock, paper scissors to see who would go to help Amelia. Filia lost.

Getting back up to go through the hall Filia was unaware that a certain purple haired trickster was following close behind.


	27. Chapter 27

_Author's Notes: Again strapped for time so not only is this late but I haven't had time to proof read it. Sorry for the errors. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-Seven

By Relm

It was hard to say what was going through the mind of Xellos the university professor as he stalked the halls of Ghost Slayers HQ following Filia. For one thing he didn't seem too upset about his ghostly state. No the purple haired man wore a large smile on his face as he followed the blond Ghost Slayer. He'd go through walls watching her from afar with that mischievously evil grin of his.

Every so often Filia would get this strange feeling of being watched and would turn around just to find no one there. Each time she turned around Xellos hid himself in the walls. It was very doubtful that even Xellos himself knew what he was doing. The ghostly Xellos just followed Filia around silently watching her.

Filia and Amelia paid and retrieved the next round of pizzas. The next round of pizzas was going to be the last one as they only ordered from three places.

"I wonder how long it's going to be till the next delivery person gets here." Amelia wondered out loud while juggling boxes.

"Amelia! Don't say things like that if you can't knock on wood! Or we're going to get stuck with the guy showing up now." Filia grumbled. She too was juggling too many boxes to deal with another load of pizza.

_BUZZ BUZZ!_

If Filia could have done it she would have kicked Amelia.

"I'm sorry Miss Filia!" Amelia apologized looking rather panicked. She didn't know what to do.

Down the hall they heard footsteps, one set heavy one set light.

"Miss Filia! Amelia!" Sylphiel yelled out as she and Zelgadis came running. "We heard the buzzer so we're here to get the rest of the pizzas."

"Good. Because we can't deal with more." Filia commented glaring at Amelia.

"I said I was sorry!" Amelia whined.

Filia rolled her eyes.

Both Sylphiel and Zelgadis frowned in confusion but didn't comment. Instead the two of them just continued towards the door.

As Filia and Amelia headed back to where Lina was Filia kept getting that feeling of being followed. Every so often Filia would look behind her to see if there was anyone there. Ordinarily this wouldn't be too strange, but when you were juggling a load of pizza boxes this wasn't a strange thing to do.

"Miss Filia what are you looking at? Is there something behind us?" Amelia too looked back but she like Filia saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"I just keep getting this feeling of being watched. Like something is following us." Filia mused with a frown.

"What if there's another ghost who hitched a ride here?" Amelia shrieked looking around.

"Wouldn't be the first time. Probably wouldn't be the last. It's nothing forget it. If it's a ghost we'll just deal with it later." Fila shrugged while continuing on. It didn't really concern her that there could be another ghost. When you worked at Ghost Slayers having a ghost or two follow you around wasn't something completely out of the norm. Plus if it was high level threat ghost they would have already realized it was there and following them. Those sorts of ghosts like to make a scene and calmly following wasn't some of their usual actions. So while Filia wasn't concerned about a potential ghost tailing them it did annoy her. She felt the pair of eyes on her but she couldn't find anyone. Not knowing if there was really someone there or just your imagination running wild was frustrating.

Xellos popped out of the wall and continued following Filia.

...

Just a few minutes after Filia and Amelia got the pizzas back to the room Lina was resting in Sylphiel and Zelgadis came in with the rest.

"I'm feeling a little weird..." Zelgadis mumbled as he got into the room. Suddenly he felt faint like all his energy was leaving his body.

One second Zelgadis looked like a normal living human being, the next he was flashing like a flickering light bulb.

"Save the pizza!" Lina exclaimed.

Filia and Amelia ran to grab the boxes from Zelgadis right as lost all physical solidity.

Zelgadis looked at his hands both relieved and disappointed that he could see through them again. "I guess I'm back to _normal _again." He said bitterly.

"Well we knew it wasn't going to last." Sylphiel stated as she put the last of the pizzas down.

"We could go shock Mister Zelgadis again and make him solid. Maybe if we hit him with the energy from four guns it would completely cure him!" Amelia suggested optimistically.

"Doubtful." Filia mused. "If it did anything it would just make him stay in a physical form a little longer. It's not a cure it just gives him a temporary physical state. We don't know what sort of long term effect this is having on him. It could be shortening his life each time he gets hit."

"It didn't feel right." Zelgadis admitted. "Yes I can touch things but they don't feel like they should."

"But it made the pizza taste really good." Lina commented with a smile.

Zelgadis had to smile back even if it was a weak one.

"Miss Lina you're not supposed to talk!" Sylphiel scolded Lina.

"Sylphiel I think she's okay. She doesn't sound that bad." Zelgadis observed while sitting himself back down next to Lina's bed. Lina was still eating, in fact she had been eating the whole time since the first pizza had been put down in front of her. If Zelgadis hadn't seen Lina's mammoth sized previously he might have been shocked by the amount the petite redhead could pack away.

"Still I'd prefer her to wait at least a day before she starts acting like she's completely fine."

Lina just grinned as she stuffed another slice of pizza into her mouth.

"So who is going to take first watch?" Amelia wondered as she went to eat more pizza.

"I'll take first watch." Filia offered. "Sylphiel you take second and Amelia you can take the last one."

"What about me?" Zelgadis asked frowning. "Shouldn't I take a watch?"

Filia shook her head. "If you lose your voice during the watch then you can warn anyone if there's anything wrong with Lina."

Lina glared at Filia. "I'm fine." She insisted.

"I don't care. You may be a freak a nature but you're no super hero. If we can't take you to the doctor then at least we can stand watch while you sleep." Filia insisted. "Zelgadis if you want to stay up then you can. But there will be someone up with you too."

"You shouldn't stay up at all." Lina advised Zelgadis. "Given your strange condition depriving yourself of sleep may not be a good idea."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. In his head he was thinking about that argument he'd had before with Lina about it not mattering because he's 'dead'. He wanted to make a similar comment but he knew she would just get mad at him so he refrained.

Lina however could see by the grimness of his face that he was thinking about his ghostly state. So even though she couldn't hit him she went to 'hit' him with the pillow. She did it not to cause him pain but to give him a shock.

Zelgadis shook his head trying to look annoyed but he couldn't help but smile a little.

...

While Lina slept as did everyone else with exception to Filia. She was taking first watch after all. Since it was going to boring for Filia to be up by herself she decided to read a book to pass the time. The book she chose was a very large one filled with an exciting fantasy adventure tale. It was one of those books that once you started reading it was hard to put it down.

Or at least that's what the book claimed to like on its' cover. But as Filia soon discovered it wasn't exciting enough to hold her complete interests. That could have been because she periodically had to check on Lina. How could one fully engross themselves into a book when they had pressing matters to deal with? It was quite possible that if Filia didn't have anything to worry about on the side she might have been completely engrossed in the book. But Lina wasn't what was really preventing Filia from getting into her book.

No Filia was having that feeling again. That feeling of being watched. As she tried to read her book she couldn't help but look up from time to time. It was really annoying when you were trying to enjoy something and you just couldn't get that nagging feeling out your gut. So look Filia did and every time she did she saw nothing. Her eyes told her that the only people in the room were the ones that were sleeping.

Of course ghosts often weren't creatures that you could see so it could stand to reason that there was a ghost staring at her but it just wasn't a visible one. Thinking that may be the case Filia even went as far as using her scanner to see if she could detect any ghosts. But according to her scanner the only ghost in the room was the one sleeping in the yellow bucket cradling a mop.

So back to her book she went for the hundredth time. 'Filia get a grip there isn't anyone there, stop looking!' Filia mentally commanded herself. She was quite forceful and determined not to look but it was hard fighting that urge to look.

While Filia tried in vain to read her book Xellos watched her. Just like in the halls Xellos hid himself every time Filia looked in his direction. This was quite fun for the ghostly professor. He was very aware of how much it was annoying her and he enjoyed that fact immensely. In the back of his foggy brain he didn't know why he enjoyed the idea of irritating the pretty blond woman. Out of all the women in the building one could argue that Filia wasn't the prettiest or one he could get the most reaction from. Filia didn't seem to scare easy either. So what was this obsession he had with her? It was a question that he just couldn't answer, nor did he want to.

Of course the reason was that they the two of them had a past, that this rivalry went back many years. But truthfully those memories were far gone from the purple haired professor's head. Everything was a fog in his mind nor was he capable of proper thought. Perhaps that might alarm some people to be in such a strange state. Xellos however was too preoccupied to care. Watching those bright blue eyes of hers darting back and forth was far too entertaining than thinking. And what pretty blue eyes they were.

...

The most eventful thing that happened during Sylphiel's watch was that in his sleep Slimer moved and knocked over the bucket he was sleeping in. It was so loud and unexpected that it startled Sylphiel and woke Zelgadis. Slimer however just slept on even though he was now laying on his side half in the bucket.

Zelgadis shook his head. "That's what startled me the last night and made me end up at Lina's." Zelgadis whispered.

"Well why don't you go back to sleep?" Sylphiel whispered back as she turned the page on the book she was reading.

Zelgadis let out a yawn. Yes he definitely was still tired. "What are you reading?"

"It's a book that Miss Filia was trying to read earlier. She wasn't enjoying it so much and I can't see why, it's a very engaging book." Sylphiel held up the book for Zelgadis to see.

Zelgadis readjusted his glasses and looked at the cover. Upon seeing the title a story description came to mind. It was summary of the book and as Zelgadis guessed what was written on the back of the cover. He had no memory of reading the actual book but he guessed he'd seen it from time to time at the library.

"Have you read it?"

Zelgadis frowned. "I don't think so, but I think maybe it was a popular one."

"The author is very famous." Sylphiel insisted.

"If you say so. Well enjoy your book." Zelgadis stretched before trying to get back into a comfortable position in the chair he had been sleeping in. His muscles protested this action as they didn't care for where he was sleeping. 'Great so ghosts can get stiff muscles too?' He thought bitterly. As he closed his eyes he could have sworn he saw something purple in the corner of his eye.

...

The Sailune police station was bustling with activity even at the night hours. Crime doesn't go to bed at night, it just gets uglier. Many officers came and went ground about their work.

The desks of Gourry and Zangulus were unattended as the two officers were off for the day. No one paid the two desks much attention. To any ordinary person the desks appeared normal. Zangulus' was neat and tidy while Gourry's was a mess. Zangulus' computer was in standby mode with the monitor off, while Gourry's had warning messages flashing on the screen. Yes it all seemed very normal for the odd couple partners. Except for one thing that was there and shouldn't be.

On top of the desk laying dangerously close to edge was an old book with a strange symbol gracing its cover. To anyone walking by they might assume it was just a book Gourry was reading and had forgotten to take with him. To someone who knew Gourry well they would realize that this wasn't normal. Gourry wasn't a bookworm. And even if he was he wouldn't have been able to read this particular book.

Upon further inspection the book seemed odder. The writing was in some old unknown language and the ink was red. And if you just happened to be one of those sensitive perceptive type people you just might be able to feel the evil emanating from its' red stained pages.

Yes there was something not right about Gourry's desk but one was aware of the danger waiting.

And that's just the way the book liked it.


	28. Chapter 28

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-Eight

By Relm

For Filia sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor wasn't always the most comfortable thing to sleep in. She wasn't a camper so she rarely used the thing. That being said Filia slept so soundly that you'd swear that she was sleeping in a luxurious king size bed complete with Egyptian cotton sheets and a feather comforter. She was incredibly comfortable as she slept. But then again Filia wasn't exactly sleeping directly on the floor.

Also sleeping in Filia's sleeping bag was a man who seemed to be sleeping as peacefully as she was. He slept on his back while Filia slept on top of him. The man's arms were snaked around the blue eyed blond keeping her safe and warm as the two slept. If you knew nothing of these two people you'd just assume they were lovers sleeping in the comfort of each other's arms. If you did know these people and saw this sight you'd frightened.

And you'd stay far far away.

Amelia who was standing watch wasn't aware of what was going on with Filia. The only reason the mayor's daughter was staying awake was to look after Lina. When Amelia woke to take the last watch she was handed a book to read to pass the time. It was the same book that Filia had tried to read and that Sylphiel had been enjoying on her watch.

The problem with Amelia reading this book was that she loved fantasy adventure tales and this was her favourite author to boot. So when she started to read it it was very hard to stop periodically to check on Lina. Amelia practically had to tear her eyes away from the pages to check on her boss. So needless to say unless you were Lina you were being completely ignored.

Lina was the first to wake up. She felt quite good despite what had happened to her the previous day. As she woke she stretched getting the kinks out of her shoulders and arms. Doing and action like this would surly get the attention of the person who was supposed to be looking after you. Except that person who was supposed to be diligently keeping tabs on Lina was so engrossed in her book that she didn't hear or see anything around her.

When faced with this sort of situation one had a few options. You could politely and calmly let the person reading the book know that you were awake. Or you could get angry with the person's lack of attention towards your condition. And of course you could just use the person's distractedness to your advantage and scare the crap out of them.

Which do you think Lina chose?

"BOOOOOO!" Yes you guessed right Lina chose to scare Amelia yelling quite loud.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Amelia screamed throwing the book into the air. "Miss Lina! That was mean!" She whined almost on the verge of tears.

"Well that's what you get for getting too into a book. You were supposed to be looking after me."

"I was checking on you from time to time." Amelia grumbled while picking up the book.

"Yeah at the end of a chapter."

"What's going on?" Sylphiel woke rubbing her eyes sleepily. She wasn't the only one woken by the noise. Both Zelgadis and Slimer were also awake and curious.

"Miss Lina scared me!" Amelia cried out miserably.

"She deserved it." Lina declared. "When you're supposed to be watching over someone's health then you shouldn't get so engrossed in a book that you don't notice what's going on around you."

"Well I suppose it was good for us to get up now anyway." Sylphiel mused getting out of her sleeping bag.

"Filia is still sleeping." Zelgadis observed while frowning. The sight was a bit alarming. Filia snuggled up in a sleeping bag with some random man. What made it alarming was that you could see right through that very same man. And even though the man's eyes were closed Zelgadis knew he was that purple eyed man that scared him previously. This was Professor Xellos.

"Someone get a gun we have to shoot him!" Lina hissed.

"We can't when he's holding Miss Filia!" Amelia exclaimed.

"We'll wake her up before we shoot him obviously. But get a gun ready." Lina commanded.

Because of everything that happened the previous day Sylphiel had decided before going to bed that it was better to be prepared. So she had a gun in the room just in case there was another poltergeist that had followed them home. Sylphiel got the gun and charged it up.

"Are you sure that will work?" Zelgadis wondered. "It wasn't the guns that gave me back my consciousness. It was your big ghost containment machine that changed me. Do you think the gun will have enough electricity?"

"Only one way to find out." Lina got out of bed and went over to the sleeping couple. 'Filia is going to have a fit when she wakes up.' Lina thought as she went over her options for waking her blond worker up. Filia may not have been an extremely light sleeper but she really should have been woken up by the yelling and screaming between Lina and Amelia earlier. For Filia not to wake was a bit out of character. But then sleeping curled up against a man you hate was also out of character for the blue eyed blond too. It looked very strange as you could see right through the man she was sleeping on. 'How did he get into the sleeping bag without her knowing? And how is he able to hold her as if he was solid? Zelgadis was only able to do that briefly and that was after he got his conscious thoughts back. Maybe being able to touch things is something they can only do unconsciously. That would explain why Zel can pick up things when he's not really trying to.' Lina wanted to study this phenomenon further but she knew she had to wake Filia up. In Xellos' current state he was a loose cannon. He didn't have the mental capability to know that he couldn't wander off to one of the buildings. If the ghostly form of Professor Xellos woke and wanted to explore Lina didn't have any means to reason with him. So even though she didn't want to Lina gently shook Filia on the shoulder to wake her up. "Filia get up!"

As Filia mumbled while she woke Xellos also woke as well. A pair of purple eyes met with Filia's blue ones as the two woke.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Filia screamed desperately trying to get off the man she hated. Since she and Xellos were in a sleeping bag that was still zipped up that was a futile effort.

Lina wanted to laugh. She wanted to just sit there and laugh at Filia's franticness. It was even more amusing since Xellos smiled at Filia amused still holding onto her. But Lina knew that wasn't nice. So Lina unzipped the zipper freeing Filia from her sleeping bag prison.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Filia yelled once she got out of the sleeping bag and Xellos' arms. Her face was beet red her hair a mess. The blond was so flustered with embarrassment and rage that she couldn't manage to grasp what had just happened.

"You were sleeping with Mister Xellos." Amelia answered very sincerely with a slight blush gracing her cheeks as well. "I guess that's one way to make sure he didn't run off."

"I WASN'T SLEEPING WITH HIM!" Filia screamed her whole face and body flushed with rage and embarrassment.

"Filia shut up!" Lina yelled. "Sylphiel shoot him!"

Sylphiel shot the gun and the ray beam hit Xellos causing him to convulse in pain. She had only meant to just quickly shoot him and turn the gun off but as soon discovered that wasn't about to happen. Once the beam made contact with Xellos it didn't matter how many times Sylphiel flicked that switch, the gun wasn't going to stop.

"Sylphiel turn it off!" Lina screeched.

"I can't! I flicked the switch off already but it's going on its' own!" Sylphiel cried out.

Filia ran over to Sylphiel and disconnected the battery source from the gun.

The beam flickered out as the gun went dead.

Xellos stood there looking extremely confused. "Where am I?"

...

Gourry whistled happily as he entered the police station. He was quite pleased with himself. For once in his life Gourry had actually woken up early and breezed into work on time. It was a glorious feeling to be able to walk into the station with his head held high instead of lowered with shame. Everyone expected Gourry to be late. He always was. Gourry was late so often that on certain days of the week the guys had a pool going as to what time Gourry would end up showing up.

Usually on those days Hallas was the big loser. Ever the optimist the rookie officer always chose to pick that Gourry would show up exactly on time. It didn't matter what day it was Hallas always lost. Gourry was never on time. And each week the betting got higher. So each week Hallas just lost more and more of his money. This particular day Hallas had made the biggest bet he'd made yet. Everyone knew Hallas was going to lose big time so they saw the bet.

So as Gourry waltzed his way into the station everyone stopped what they were doing and just stared. Gourry was on time...? Some looked out to the window to see if pigs were flying or if the world was coming to an end.

Hallas on the other hand so ecstatic that he was crying. "I won! I WON!" He ran to Gourry and gave him a big hug. "THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

"You're welcome?" Gourry mumbled in confusion. He was used to hearing groans and cheers when he came into work but he wasn't aware of the station pool. He just figured that everyone was disappointed with him showing up late. Even though he wasn't aware of what was going on he was still happy with himself. Gourry had a feeling that it was going to be one of those days where everything was going to go right for him.

"You couldn't have shown up five minutes later couldn't you?" Zangulus spat out from his chair as Gourry sat down at his desk.

"Huh?" Gourry looked at his partner blankly.

"Nevermind. I'm going to get some coffee." Zangulus got up and walked away.

Gourry blinked in confusion. But the blond officer didn't dwell on it too much as he had something to draw his attention away. Laying close to the edge of the desk was a strange book. He tried to remember if the book had been on his desk before he left the previous day but for the life of him he couldn't remember. 'Maybe this is a new computer manual.' Gourry he picked up the old looking book and looked through its' pages. The writing was in a strange red ink and the language was old and unreadable to the officer. 'Bleh it's in French.' He observed putting it back down. Of course the book wasn't in French but Gourry couldn't read French or any other language so it all looked like gibberish to him anyway. 'I'm hungry. Maybe I'll go see if there are any donuts.' Gourry got up and left his desk unattended with the book lying open. Its' red stain pages were exposed and so was the evil it contained.

...

"Let me shock him again so I beat the crap out of him!" Filia screeched trying to get the gun away from Sylphiel.

"Miss Filia stop it!" Sylphiel protested trying to keep the gun away from Filia.

"Mister Xellos what do you remember?" Amelia asked ignoring Filia's antics.

"I don't remember anything really... except for following her around." Xellos mused with a sheepish smile. His eyes remained closed as he did so, making him seem like the professor the girls knew. Professor Xellos was a strange man and though he often kept his eyes closed he was still able to move around as thought he could see quite clearly. As creepy as he was, it was when the professor's eyes were open that he seemed the creepiest. His sinister purple eyes were always filled with mischievous intent.

Filia stopped what she was doing and glared at him. "So it was you! You evil annoying bastard! I had been getting so irritated because I felt like I was being watch and it was you the whole time!"

"Yes it would seem so." Again Xellos sheepishly smiled. Though confused the professor didn't seem to be too concerned with what was going on. Or perhaps was still trying to grasp the situation.

"Why they the hell were you doing that?" Filia spat out.

"I don't know..." Xellos admitted. Though now with conscious thought Xellos still couldn't make sense of his muddled mind. There were faint glimmers of memories of the blue eyed blond in the back of his head but he couldn't grasp them. They were too far away for him to reach and pluck them back into his thoughts. "But we were sleeping together so perhaps I'm just fond of you?" He suggested.

"WE WERE NOT SLEEPING TOGETHER!" Filia screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I was holding you and you were sleeping against my chest. That by literal definition was sleeping together. Are we lovers?" He opened eyes to look her up and down.

"NOOOOOO!" Filia screamed once more while throwing things at the new 'ghost'. Her face was still red and now she was practically frantic as she felt Xellos undressing her with his eyes.

Having objects come flying at you and go right through you was a strange thing to feel. Xellos couldn't help but be amazed the phenomenon. "I do feel... 'connected' to you. Are you sure we've never-"

"NEVER! NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS WOULD I EVER SLEEP WITH YOU!" Filia screamed cutting off Xellos' sentence.

"But we've obviously wanted to seeing how we have all this unresolved sexual tension." Xellos observed with a sly grin.

Filia almost exploded right there. "THERE IS NO SEXUAL TENSION! I FIND YOU AS ATTRACTIVE AS A PILE OF RAW GARBAGE!"

"Shouldn't we do something?" Zelgadis wondered feeling very uncomfortable with the situation.

"Yeah let's pop some popcorn!" Lina said gleefully as she enjoyed the 'show' playing before them.


	29. Chapter 29

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Twenty-nine

By Relm

It took about a half hours worth of Filia screaming at Xellos before Filia got fed up with the ghostly professor and stormed off. And it was a real big letdown for Lina as she got the popcorn when the fight stopped.

"Shouldn't someone go see if Miss Filia is okay?" Amelia wondered out loud.

"I'll go." Xellos offered putting his hand up.

Lina rolled her eyes. "Keep this is up I'll hand her a zapper to use so that she can smack you."

"So if I get shocked I'll be able to touch things? Interesting..." Xellos mused looking through his hands.

"You could at least pretend that you're a little freaked out by all this." Zelgadis grumbled in obvious disgust. When he became aware of predicament he hadn't exactly been happy. If anything Zelgadis had been confused, worried and a bit depressed. Xellos however seemed to find the whole situation fascinating and didn't seem the least bit bothered about being a 'ghost'. This was annoying to the librarian.

"Why would I be freaked out for? I can go through walls." Xellos mused demonstrating this fact by putting his hand in and out of the wall.

Lina narrowed her eyes at the professor. "You'd better not be thinking about peeping on any of us." She warned him with a deadliness to her voice.

"Oh what a marvellous idea!" Xellos clapped his hands together in delight.

"Mister Xellos!" Both Sylphiel and Amelia protested.

"Don't worry he won't be doing anything." Lina assured both women.

"How would you know that?" Xellos wondered.

"Because I'll kill you if you do." Lina replied sweetly.

"Idle threat." He smiled back at her. "I may be dead already. So why should I care if you kill me again?"

"Zel can you do something for me?" Lina turned to Zelgadis.

"What?"

"Try and hit him."

Zelgadis raised an eyebrow at this request. Truthfully he hadn't known the professor for too long but he was already feeling the urge to strike him. So Lina's request was an amusing one that Zelgadis was more than willing to oblige. With one good whap Zelgadis smacked Xellos upside the head. The sound of the contact of Zelgadis' hand and Xellos' neck was loud with a sharp crack. Both men may be transparent and able to go through things but they were both capable of hurting each other. "How did you know I could do that?"

"Well Slimer can touch other ghosts and since he can't touch other of you that means you two aren't ghosts." Lina explained. "We don't know what you two are at this moment but one thing is for sure you two are the same. So guess what Zel, you get to be my enforcer."

Zelgadis glared at Lina. "Is that a fancy way of saying that I'm going to be stuck being the fruity professor's babysitter?"

"I don't need a babysitter." Xellos insisted. "And even if I did do you really thing that you can stop me? I can hit you back."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "By the looks of your arms I doubt you'd give me much of a fight."

"Yours don't look bigger than mine." Xellos countered.

"Do I seriously have to babysit him?" Zelgadis whined.

"Please Zel?" Lina flashed him the cutest look she could manage.

Zelgadis found himself unable to resist or look away from Lina. "Okay... fine."

"Thanks and now you can go find him and make sure he's not doing bad." Lina said with a smile.

"Find him? He's right here...?" Zelgadis looked around and realized that the professor had indeed disappeared. "What the hell he was just here!"

"He's probably harassing Filia. Go find her." Lina advised him.

"Miss Lina what are we going to do about Mister Xellos?" Sylphiel asked once Zelgadis left the room.

"Well I'm not sure." Lina admitted with a sigh. "The situation was complicated enough when it was just Zel we had to worry about. But how many other poor souls are wandering around like ghosts because of this damned book? It's very possible that the victims gravitate to those they were close to. That would explain why Xellos popped up here; he came because of his love/hate connection to Filia."

"But how would that explain Mister Zelgadis following us here? None of us knew him before hand." Amelia rationalized.

"Yeah but he's been a 'ghost' a lot longer and I'm sure that he wasn't terribly close to the people around him. But my point still stands, there could be dozens or hundreds of people that have already fallen victim to this book. We need to find it and stop it from hurting anyone else." Lina tapped her fingers in thought. 'Of course if we get the book what will we do with it?'

"We can assume that the book was at the university... But the book seems to vanish once it attacks so it's probably not there. But still it would be a good idea to check the school out. Maybe we can find a clue as to where it went." Sylphiel suggested.

"It might be futile but it's better than nothing. Why don't the two of you go to the university and check it out?"

"What if they ask about Mister Xellos?"

"Tell them he's really sick with the flu or something." Lina suggested.

"Won't they wonder why we would know this rather than them?"

Lina frowned. "Okay um... then tell them Filia told us because the two of them are dating."

Amelia and Sylphiel just stared at Lina with complete utter confusion and horror. "What?"

"Hey it's the easiest way! Alright fine I'll call the university and get Xellos to talk to them."

"Get him to say he has mono. Because then he'll be off sick for a while." Sylphiel surmised.

"Good idea."

...

Once Sylphiel and Amelia left to go the university and Xellos called in sick Lina went to get herself ready for the things she had to do that day.

"What do you think you're doing?" Filia demanded coming into the room.

"I'm getting ready to go to the bank." Lina replied while finishing brushing her hair.

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am. I need to cash those cheques ASAP. We're up to our ears in bills Filia!"

"But you were strangled and electrocuted yesterday!"

"So what I'm supposed to stay cooped up in a room for the rest of my life? I feel fine. And as the owner of this business I have responsibilities. Cashing cheques and dealing with bills are a big part of that."

"Can't someone else do it?"

"No, and you know that. My name is on the account." Lina exclaimed while rolling her eyes.

"Well you should have someone come with you." Filia rationalized.

"You're not going Filia."

"Why not?

"Because I need you as insurance to keep Xellos from wandering off."

"Why do I have to babysit that... _thing_?"

"Because Xellos is a pain in the ass that doesn't listen when you tell him not to do something. I don't trust him by himself."

"And why can't Amelia or Sylphiel watch him?"

"I sent them to the university to investigate. So you're my only option."

"But Zelgadis and Slimer are watching him." Filia protested. She really wanted to get the hell away from Xellos. He kept looking for more and more ways to annoy and scare her. It was getting very frustrating.

"It doesn't matter. He's connected to you just like Zel was to me. If he happens to get frightened he'll end up popping up by you. And the last thing I need is that ghostly fruitcake professor popping up at the bank while I'm trying to deal with the finances. So quit arguing with me Filia! You're staying and that's final! Now get back to watching Xellos. I don't want you to let him out of your sight till I come back." Lina ordered Filia.

"Fine." Filia grumbled.

...

"It feels like ages since we've been back here." Amelia mused out loud as she and Sylphiel walked the halls of the university.

"It wasn't that long Amelia. However it is nice to see the place. Doesn't look like anything has changed."

"I'm sure Mister Xellos changed the classroom when he took over Miss Filia's class. It's a good thing she isn't here I'm sure she would be livid."

"I would be mad too if someone stole my job." Sylphiel sighed. She remembered just how upset the blond teacher had been. It had been horrible.

_RING RING! _Amelia's phone rang loud and clear. "Who's calling me?" Amelia wondered out loud as she fished around her bag for her cell. "It's my sister. Hello?" Amelia answered her phone.

"_Hey Ame, it's your big sis." _

"Hi! What's up? Is something wrong?"

"_Oh yes something completely terrible!" _Gracia/Naga exclaimed over dramatically over the phone.

"What happened? It's not Dad is it? Is he okay?"

"_OHOHOHOHO! Oh Amelia you are always so easy to fool! I'm calling because I need a favour. I have to some dinner thing tonight for the theatre. Some charity or something I don't remember. But I need a date!" _

"Sis the only guys I know are ghosts or not available!" Amelia protested.

"_Oh c'mon now Ame! You wouldn't let your poor big sis go all alone would you? A champion of love and justice wouldn't turn their back on someone in need." _

Amelia frowned. "Fine I'll find you someone. But you owe me!"

"_OHOHOHOHOHOHO! Get him to pick me up at the theatre at 7pm. And make sure he's pretty!" _Gracia/Naga added that last bit before hanging up.

"Great." Amelia muttered. "My older sister needs to find an attractive single man for her to take to some charity dinner tonight."

"That's a tall order on short notice."

"What am I going to do? I don't know anyone who would be willing to go out with her! Why did I say yes?" Amelia cried out loud.

"How about asking one of the professors here at the university? We're already here so it wouldn't hurt to ask." Sylphiel suggested.

"Most of them are married or too old for my sister's tastes."

"That Hellmaster Phibrizzo guy isn't too old and I'm pretty sure he's single."

Amelia shook her head. "My sister is as tall as Officer Gaberieve! She won't want to go out with someone quite so short or young looking."

"Well there's got to be someone you could ask."

"I HATE THE DUMB FRUITCAKE!" A man yelled slamming a door as he entered into the hallway. "He calls in sick the last moment so we can't even get a sub! And who gets stuck with his class? ME! And it's not even my field for crying out loud!" Val yelled once more as he stomped his way through the halls.

Sylphiel looked at Amelia and motioned towards Val.

Right away Amelia shook her head.

"He's not too young, not too old and I'm pretty sure he's tall enough for your sister. And Miss Filia is always telling me how her stepbrother has no social life." Sylphiel pointed out.

"He won't say yes though!" Amelia protested. To be honest she didn't like Val all that much. Amelia was used to abrasive personalities but Val scared her a little bit. He was always so angry.

"You won't know unless you try." Sylphiel pushed Amelia in Val's direction blocking the angry man's path.

"Um hello?" Amelia said shyly.

Val looked her over with a frown plastered to his face. "You work with Filia... what do you want?"

"I need a favour. My older sister needs a date for a charity dinner-"

"No." Val answered right away.

"But you don't even know her!" Amelia protested.

"I don't care. I don't want to know her. Now leave me alone." Val brushed past her not caring one bit.

"It's a shame poor Gracia would have to be turned down by two guys." Sylphiel spoke up.

Val barely acknowledged her as he looked in her general direction.

"You see, Mister Xellos would have taken her but he's so terribly sick." Sylphiel explained.

This made Val stop and think for a moment. "So this Gracia woman was going to be his date?" He demanded looking at Amelia.

Amelia unable to lie convincingly opted to just nodding. It wasn't a complete lie; Xellos surely would have gone with Gracia/Naga if he was asked. Because going out on a date with a tall busty lady would surely annoy Filia and Xellos lived to annoy his precious Filia.

"If I went out with this woman I'd be stealing that idiot's date?"

Again Amelia nodded.

"Okay where and when do I need to meet this woman?"

"A-at the Sailune theatre... at um 7pm." Amelia stammered.

"I suppose I have to dress nice. It's a good thing I look good in a suit." Val mused going into a classroom and slamming the door.

Both Amelia and Sylphiel let out a sigh of relief.

_(Author's Notes: I'm a weirdo I know... I'm going to throw some Naga/Val in this fic. I hope that doesn't bother anyone but after writing 'Dance of the Nutcracker' I've become quite fond of that pairing. Plus giving Val a more active role in this fic works out better than what I had originally planned for the plot/climax.) _


	30. Chapter 30

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty

By Relm

"What do you think Miss Filia is going to say when she finds out what I did?" Amelia asked Sylphiel nervously as the two of them walked around the university. They had asked a few people about the book and so far no one had been helpful. More likely the book had been in Xellos' possession the whole time it had been at the university. So the best place to check was Xellos' classroom. Which happened to be in use with Val teaching Xellos' class.

"I'm sure she'll be happy to know her step brother is going on a date. Who knows it might make him a happier person." Sylphiel tried to assure Amelia.

"But it's my sister! Miss Filia can't stand my sister. What if my sister and Mister Val hit it off and get married? Miss Filia would kill me!" Amelia cried out in horror.

Sylphiel didn't want to, as Amelia was very upset at that moment but she couldn't help it. She just had to laugh.

"Miss Sylphiel!" Amelia protested. "Stop laughing at me! This is serious!"

"I'm sorry Amelia." Sylphiel tried to suppress her laugher into a giggle or two. "But your sister is an... acquired taste. I really don't see her and Miss Filia's step brother hitting it off enough to get married. More likely they will hate each other. You have nothing to worry about."

Amelia let out a sigh. "I hope so."

"But you should warn her soon though. If he talks to Miss Filia and she knows nothing about it Miss Filia might tip him off about that little lie we told." Sylphiel suggested.

"That's right! I'd better call her." Amelia got out her cell and dialled up Filia's number.

"_Hello?" _Filia answered her phone sounding very annoyed.

"Hi Miss Filia how are things going?"

"_Lina went off to the bank leaving me with the ghosts. So far I've managed to stay away from that idiot Xellos but if I leave him alone too long he's going to cause trouble." _

"Well that's too bad. Perhaps I shouldn't be bothering you now." Amelia laughed nervously right before Sylphiel jabbed her in the ribs. "Ouch! Um I do have something I need to tell you... and you might not like it."

"_Go on." _The sound of Filia's voice sounded like she was already not impressed.

"Okay you remember my older sister and how she's back in town? Well she called me up and she has to go to some charity thing to go to and she needed a date-"

"_Amelia! Get to the point!"_

"I asked your step brother if he'd take my sister to the charity thing and he said yes."

"_Wha-what? Val is going to take your sister out on a date? How the hell did you manage that?"_

"Miss Sylphiel may have made him believe that Mister Xellos was originally going to take Gracia but he had to turn her down because he's sick."

Amelia could hear Filia let out a heavy sigh. _"So if he calls me to ask about your sister then I'm to confirm that Xellos was going to out her."_

"Only if he calls."

"_And what am I to say when he calls me to yell at me for you setting him up with your crazy sister?"_

"Then you can tell him I'm very sorry?" Amelia laughed nervously. "Who knows they might end up liking each other."

"_Amelia that's not likely to happen and you know it. And if by some freak chance they do hit it off I will probably kill either her, you or both of you." _Filia didn't say anything more than that she just hung up the phone.

"So how did she take the news?" Sylphiel asked once Amelia was off her phone.

"If they get married Miss Filia is going to kill me."

"I'm sure everything will be fine." Sylphiel smiled reassuringly at Amelia.

"NOW READ THOSE CHAPTERS AND NO SLACKING!" Val yelled as he stepped out of the classroom. "Oh good you're still here." Val walked over to Amelia and Sylphiel. "What does your sister look like?" His voice was loud and authoritative.

"Um... she's tall with long black hair and blue eyes." Amelia stuttered. "Her name is Gracia."

"Okay." And with that Val turned heel and went to head back into the classroom.

"Wait!" Sylphiel called out to him. "You only came out to ask what Miss Gracia looks like?"

"It would be stupid not to know the appearance of the person I'm going to go out with. Why are you two here anyway? Neither my step sister or that annoying Lina Inverse works here anymore. And you can't have come just to ask if I could take out your sister. So why are you here?" Val glared at both Amelia and Sylphiel intensely.

"We're here looking for information about a book." Sylphiel started to explain shying away from Val's glare. "It's an old looking book with red writing. Mister Xellos might have had it in his possession yesterday."

"Yeah he had it alright. Interrupted my class just to annoy me with it! I think he took it to Phibrizzo afterwards." Val mused while thinking back to yesterday.

"Thank you very much! Enjoy the rest of your day!" Amelia did a quick bow before she and Sylphiel took off.

Val just looked at the two of them with a puzzled look on his face.

...

Filia let out a sigh as she went to look for Xellos, Zelgadis and Slimer. It wasn't as thought Slimer or Zelgadis was causing Filia dread. She was used to Slimer's antics and she didn't have anything against Zelgadis. But Xellos was a different story.

She wanted to spend her time avoiding Xellos but Lina had ordered her to watch him. So she had no choice.

When Filia found the 'ghosts' they were in the locker room. It appeared that Slimer was showing Xellos things while Zelgadis stood there annoyed. Those things in question was spare clothing. In particular Filia's spare clothes.

"You'd better not be a bad influence on him!" Filia growled stomping her way into the room.

"Who are you yelling at?" Zelgadis asked a raised eyebrow.

"Xellos of course!"

"Okay but it was Slimer that led up here and stared pulling the clothes out." Zelgadis motioned to the pile of clothes on the floor covered in green goo.

Filia glared at Slimer. "We've talked about this you little green cross dresser."

Slimer grinned innocently while his 'halo' appeared over his head. And by halo it was of course a ring of Slimer's gooey flesh separated from his head and floated above.

"That's amazing!" Xellos exclaimed in awe staring at what Slimer did. "What else can he do?"

"He can put those clothes in the washing machine!" Filia order Slimer pointing at the washing machine in the corner of the room.

Slimer scoped up all the clothes in one bundle and floated over to the machine.

"Please tell me he didn't try them on." Filia pleaded to Zelgadis.

"I told him not to but that Xellos guy kept egging him on." Zelgadis explained much to Filia's dismay.

"Ne Zelly you're so mean." Xellos went to ruffle Zelgadis' hair.

Zelgadis smacked his hand away violently. "If I could pick something up I'd hit him with it."

Xellos smiled like a cat trying to look ever so innocent.

Filia just shook her head.

"So where's Lina?" Zelgadis wondered ignoring Xellos.

"She went to the bank."

"What? Did Amelia or Sylphiel go with her?"

"No Lina went by herself."

Zelgadis couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why would you let her go alone for? She was almost killed yesterday!"

"My you seem quite concerned for that woman. Do you two share a similar relationship to Filia and I?" Xellos suggested wiggling his eyebrows.

"WE DO NO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP YOU PIECE OF GARBAGE!" Filia screamed in Xellos face. "And I didn't willingly let her go alone. You can't exactly tell Lina what to do especially when she's the boss. I wanted to go with her but she wouldn't let me. According to her Xellos may be connected to me like you are to Lina. So f he gets spooked he may appear where I am. And she doesn't want that to happen at the bank." Filia explained.

"You see we are connected." Xellos got up right behind her and put his left hand on her butt; or he would have if his hand didn't go right through things.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Filia screeched trying to his hand away from her while throwing random objects at him.

Xellos roared with laughter at Filia's feeble attempts to maim him.

Zelgadis shook his head before smacking Xellos upside the head.

...

Lina was in quite a good mood as she pulled up into the bank with her two cheques in her hands. With those cheques she could finally get ahead of some of the bills.

The first thing she noticed when she got into the band was that it was busy. There were several people in line (many irritated) with only two tellers serving clients. Both tellers appeared to be very stressed.

'Someone probably called in sick.' Lina observed as she got in line.

Ordinarily getting stuck in such a long time would put Lina in a foul mood. But she didn't have anywhere to be so she was fine with waiting.

...

Sylphiel and Amelia waited patiently for Hellmaster Phibrizzo to finish teaching his class for that period. It didn't matter what the day's lesson had been about the students always left looking very grim.

"Professor Phibrizzo can we talk with you for a moment?" Sylphiel called out to the professor from the hall once the class was over and all the students left.

"Please come in. I have a free period and they can always be so boring if you don't have anything planned." Phibrizzo motioned for Sylphiel and Amelia to come in.

"Professor Phibrizzo we'd like to speak to you about a book Mister Xellos might have shown you yesterday."

"Ah yes the Mglahan replica. Fascinating book. You could really feel the evil coming off it. Xellos wasn't sure how it ended up in his cabinet. Did the book belong to you?"

"No it was in the custody of a client of ours. We're trying to track down where it has gone." Sylphiel cryptically explained. Technically Zelgadis wasn't a client but Sylphiel wasn't about to tell Phibrizzo that there was a man eating book on the loose.

"Why don't you ask Xellos?"

"We have and he doesn't quite remember when he saw it last." Amelia offered up. It wasn't exactly a lie, Xellos didn't remember, but then he didn't remember anything.

"Xellos forgetting something? That's a bit out of character for him." Phibrizzo mused.

"Well he er is sick so that could be the reason." Sylphiel stumbled over her words.

"Oh my I wonder if that's because he caught a 'draft'." Phibrizzo let out a very odd giggle at his suggestion. "More likely the book is still in his class.

"Mister Xellos' class is being taught at the moment. So we can't get into the room."

"Oh? Who's teaching it?"

"Miss Filia's step-brother Val." Amelia explained.

"Marvellous! Shall I cause a diversion so you two can sneak into the room?" More odd laughter bubbled out a Hellmaster Phibrizzo.

"No that's quite alright. But we should be going. Thank you for your time." Sylphiel bowed in respect before she and Amelia left the classroom.

"He gives me the creeps!" Amelia hissed once they were in the hall.

"He may be odd Amelia but he did give us confirmation about the book." Sylphiel chided.

"That still doesn't tell us where the book is now. In fact we don't even know if Mister Xellos was attacked on campus. For all we know he brought the book home and it attacked him there!"

Sylphiel frowned. "Well how about we check the parking lot? If Mister Xellos' car is still there then we know he never left the school."

"Good idea."

...

Filia spent her time looking back and forth between Xellos and Slimer. At this point in time she trusted neither 'ghost' because of their recent actions.

"Shouldn't Lina be back by now?" Zelgadis wondered out loud trying to look at the time on Filia's watch. But it was hard as the golden haired Ghost Slayer had her wrist turned downward making it hard to see the watch.

"It hasn't been that long. Don't worry about her she'll be fine." Filia insisted trying to calm the ghostly librarian.

Zelgadis frowned. "Well what if something happened while she was driving? What if she passed out and crashed the car?"

"Zelgadis she'll be fine! Why are you worrying so much?"

"When it was your body responsible for almost killing someone you tend to get a bit paranoid about that person's health." Zelgadis mumbled. He still felt very guilty about what had happened.

"Lina doesn't blame you and besides, she took the Ghost Slayersmobile. It's a big boat of a car. If she crashes it she's likely to cause more damage than inflict it."

"Great so that means because of me she could hurt someone else." Zelgadis whined.

Filia shook her head. If she could she would have hit Zelgadis over the head. "Would you stop being so melodramatic? Everything is going to be fine!" Filia insisted once again.

Because Filia and Zelgadis were so absorbed with their conversation they hadn't noticed that Xellos had snuck off behind them.

"I'm not being melodramatic! I am very justified in my concerns! You can't tell me you aren't worried at least a little bit!"

"Of course I'm worried but this is Lina we're talking about. She's always doing things she shouldn't. Worrying about her is pointless." Filia advised Zelgadis.

"Well I can't help it. Hey where'd that idiot go?" Zelgadis wondered realizing Xellos wasn't in sight.

"Oh if that piece of garbage is harassing our neighbours I'll beat the crap out of him!" Filia exclaimed with clenched fists.

"What can you do to him? You can't hit him." Zelgadis observed.

"But you can."

"It's not like I have any weapons at my disposal."

Filia eyed Zelgadis for a moment before coming to a realization. "You are wearing a belt."

Zelgadis looked down at his waist and noticed that she was right. "What do you know, I am. Okay then let's go find the idiot."

As Filia and Zelgadis turned around to leave the room Xellos popped up from the floor while throwing his jacket in the air. "BLAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He yelled with childish delight.

Filia jumped while shrieking and Zelgadis of course vanished.

"Hmmm... interesting... where did he go?" Xellos mused.

...

When waiting in a long line it was always a nice feeling when you were at the beginning of it and know you were next. Lina was quite happy to be next, the line seemed like it moved so slowly. 'Yeah I'm next!' Lina thought with glee as she waiting for one of the tellers to finish with their client.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Zelgadis screamed popping up right next to Lina.

It was bad enough when something magically appeared in a room unexpected. It was worse when said thing ended up looking like a ghost. And worst of all when the ghost was screaming their head off.

"A GHOST!" One person screamed.

Chaos erupted in the busy bank as everyone ran to get away from the _ghost_ in the middle of the room.

Lina however just stood there groaning.


	31. Chapter 31

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-one

By Relm

"Why me? Why me?" Lina muttered over and over again. "Zel! Why are you here? And why couldn't you have shown up after I cashed the cheques?" Lina hissed trying to not to directly look at Zelgadis.

"I'm sorry! It's all that Xellos' fault." Zelgadis grumbled.

"Well go hide."

Zelgadis looked around not sure of where he should go. Since he could go through walls he opted for hiding in one. Inside the wall he could still hear the screaming, however it seemed to die down a bit. It was quite strange to be inside a wall. He was pretty used to going through them by now but he had never thought to stay and linger inside one before. His eyes had trouble making sense of what he was seeing. It all seemed to be a big blur.

While everyone flailed around in panic Lina just stood there patiently waiting for the clerks to settle down so she could cash the cheques. "The ghost is gone people!" Lina yelled out. "Why don't you all stop running around like a bunch of headless chickens? It's embarrassing to watch! It's like you're all frightened children."

At first they didn't listen to Lina, but perhaps reason started to settle in and the hysteria subsided. Slowly the bank returned to normal.

It seemed to take the clerks a little longer to compose themselves enough to see clients which wasn't helping Lina's growing agitation. "Hello I'd like to do my banking sometime before next year!" Lina called out in an effort to get one of the clerks' attention.

"I can help you over here..." One of the clerks mumbled feebly.

"Thank god! I thought I was going to be stuck waiting forever!" Lina happily waltzed her way over to the clerk.

"How can you be so cheerful? There was a ghost that appeared in the bank! Right here!" The clerk exclaimed in disbelief.

"Well... um..." Lina looked over to see the clerk's name tag, "Sally I guess I just don't scare too easily. Anyway I'd like to cash these two cheques and deposit it into my business account." Lina handed Sally the two cheques.

"These are made out to Ghost Slayers..." Sally mumbled. "You're one of those ghost hunting people from a couple blocks over. That's why you weren't scared!"

"Yes I've dealt with many ghosts in my time, so one popping up out of the blue doesn't frighten me." Lina rubbed the back her neck nervously.

"I bet you brought that thing in here!" Sally accused Lina pointing a finger at.

"Okay I'm no banker, but something tells me making wild accusations instead of cashing cheques wasn't what you learned in banking school. And pointing is very rude." Lina crossed her arms across her chest and stared down the clerk.

Sally the clerk lowered her finger while thinking Lina's words over. "You're not denying you brought the ghost, you're just trying to change the subject."

Lina rolled her eyes. "Now why would I want to bring a ghost here for?"

"So the bank would be haunted. So that we'd have to hire you to get rid of it for an outrageous fee." Sally huffed in anger.

"Take a look at the amount of the cheques; you can plainly see what I get for jobs." Lina pointed out.

Sally ignored what Lina said and went on with her triad. "That's probably how you always do it. You get some innocent ghost to play along with your evil schemes and dump it at some local business. You charge the business 'get rid' of the ghost and take that same ghost to another business and do the same thing! How many companies have you hit with this con?"

Lina was going to defend herself until she actually stopped to think about Sally's suggestion. 'That actually would be an easy way to get some quick cash seeing how I have Zel and all... No stop it Lina focus!' She berated herself. "Are you going to cash my cheques or not?" Lina huffed.

"I'll need to talk to my manager. There seems to be a problem with some of the numbers." Sally smiled evilly at Lina before walking away leaving Lina standing in front of the wicket feeling a little more than peeved.

'If Xellos isn't already dead then I'm going to kill him.' Lina decided.

...

"I don't understand why you're so upset. You should relax, being tense all the time can't be good for you." Xellos spoke in a very soothing voice that didn't match well with his rather sinister looking grin. "It would explain all your wrinkles."

Filia screamed and threw some more random objects at Xellos. She was so frustrated and angry with Xellos that she wasn't thinking clearly. She knew that Xellos had frightened Zelgadis off but she didn't know where the ghostly librarian had gone off too. If she had been in a right frame of mind she would have figured that Zelgadis was probably with Lina and that calling Lina would have been the best course of action at that moment.

But of course Filia wasn't in the right frame of mind to do much more than scream bloody murder. "I hate you you piece of garbage! AND I DO NOT HAVE WRINKLES!" Filia screamed.

Perhaps one would have taken Filia and her anger seriously if it weren't for the green legless glob floating behind her mocking her every movement.

Xellos roared with laughter.

Filia was so mad that steam was almost literately coming out of her ears. It took her a moment to realize why Xellos was laughing at her. "SLIMER!" Filia screamed. "GET BACK TO THAT LAUNDRY!"

Slimer nodded his head sending droplets of green slime flying all other the place.

Filia flicked off some of the slime that hit her. "Great..."

"At least Slimer is doing your clothes, so you'll have something to change into." Xellos pointed out still smiling like an evil cat.

Filia glared at Xellos. She was going to say something when her phone started to ring. "Hello?" As she asked while answering it.

"_Filia it's me Lina." _Lina's voice didn't sound impressed.

"Hi Lina how are things at the bank?" Filia laughed nervously.

"_Remember what I said about not wanting Xellos to pop up while I was at the bank? That I didn't want to cause a panic of a ghost showing up out of the blue?"_

"Um... yes...?" She knew where Lina was going with this.

"_Yeah Zel showing up isn't much better."_

"So things aren't going well?"

"_The bank clerk has my cheques hostage because she thinks I'm pulling a con. She's talking with the manager and all the other clerks are staring at me whispering." _

"I'm sorry Lina. It's all Xellos' fault!"

"_Yeah Zel kinda explained that. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised that Xellos would do that. He's already scared Zel once before." _Lina let out a sigh.

"Where is he at the moment?"

"_He's hiding in a wall."_

"Is that okay for him to do that?"

"_If it isn't I'm sure he'd just go into another room where there's no people. Anyway I'm probably going to be a while. I'll bring Zel back with me when I'm done. Please make sure Xellos doesn't do anything else."_

"Lina I'm not a miracle worker." Filia reminded her boss.

"_Just try okay? Bye."_

"Bye." Filia hung up here phone and glared at Xellos.

...

"What sort of car does Mister Xellos drive?" Amelia wondered as she and Sylphiel made their way to the university parking lot.

"A black jaguar. Not your typical university professor car. Mister Xellos has particular tastes that's for sure." Sylphiel mused.

Amelia frowned. "It may not be typical, but what if there are more than one? How will know its' Mister Xellos'?"

"Well there's a dent in the back from when Miss Filia hit it with a baseball bat. Or the scratches on the left side from when Miss Filia keyed the door. But even if there are black jags there with those marks I'm sure we'd still be able to pick out Mister Xellos' car."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because Mister Xellos' car' license plate is 'Filia'."

"Oh." Amelia grimaced. "I'm guessing Miss Filia didn't like that."

"That's why she dented and keyed the car. Mister Xellos kept saying things like 'I rode Filia for a long time' or 'my little Filia purrs when I turn her on'. She wasn't impressed."

"It's a wonder Miss Filia hasn't killed him with all the stunts he pulls."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she hasn't already tried to at one point." Sylphiel joked while scanning the parking lot. "There's a black jaguar over there."

Both Amelia and Sylphiel sprinted over to see that the black jaguar had a license plate that read 'Filia'.

"We should call Miss Lina." Amelia suggested.

Sylphiel nodded and pulled out her cell to dial up Lina's cell.

...

Lina was still waiting for the clerk when her cell started to go off. She was about to answer when the clerk came back. 'It's only Sylphiel, I'll call her back.' "So Sally do I get my cheques cashed or are you having me arrested?"

Sally narrowed her eyes at Lina. "Apparently my manager doesn't believe in ghosts so he thinks it's nonsense for me not to serve you. So against my better judgement I'll deal with your business, but if there's ghost floating around after you've left I'm calling the cops." Sally warned her.

At that moment there was a loud slamming of a door as three masked men came busting into the bank toting guns.

"STOP NO ONE MOVE!" One of the men screamed waving his gun. "This is a stick up!"

One of the other two went around and spray painted all the cameras while the third man started pushing everyone to the ground.

Part of Lina was a little worried about the bank robbers, but the rest of her was actually annoyed. 'Just another thing to delay my banking.'

"Open the drawers and put all the money in the bag!" The first man screamed at Sally thrusting an empty bag into her face.

Sally didn't move she just stood there frozen like a statue.

"MOVE IT LADY!" He yelled at her actually hitting Sally with the bag.

"Just do it!" Lina hissed under her breath.

"You say something red?" The first bank yelled at Lina pointing his gun at Lina.

"Nothing..." Lina mumbled.

"You want to die?" He yelled even louder at Lina.

"No." Lina responded quietly.

Zelgadis couldn't see what was going on, but he could hear it. There was a robbery going on in the bank. His gut instinct told him to stay hidden and wait till was all over. But once he heard one of the bank robbers yell at someone he called 'red' Zelgadis knew he couldn't just stay hidden. Lina was out there and very close to at least one of the bank robbers.

So against his better judgement Zelgadis poked his head from the wall to take a look. He saw the three bank robbers pacing around. One was watching the people, another was watching the doors and the third one was getting the money from the teller. This third robber caught Zelgadis' attention most of all, as Lina was sitting on the ground just a few feet away from him. And that bank robber had his gun aimed right at her.

"If you don't shut up I will kill you!" The robber yelled at Lina. With his gun still on Lina the robber turned back to Sally. "Get the money or I'll kill the red head."

Sally still very much frightened couldn't move. She just stood there trembling.

"MOVE IT!" The robber screamed.

"I-I can't g-e-e-et mo-ney o-u-u-t of the drawer..." Sally eventually stuttered out.

"Alright we do this the hard way!"

Lina saw the robber's finger pull the trigger in slow motion. She didn't have time to react all she could do was close her eyes and wait for the shot that would surely kill her.

_BANG! _The shot was loud and it seemed like it echoed throughout the bank. The splatter of blood dripping onto the floor from the bullet wound.

When Lina opened her eyes she expected to be in extreme pain from a fatal wound. What she ended up seeing was Zelgadis standing between her and the robber. His body was flashing between solid and transparent and he was clutching the bullet wound in his stomach.


	32. Chapter 32

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-two

By Relm

Pain. It was an interesting feeling. It was one we were all familiar with. Pain came in many forms. Some physical some mental or emotional. When you die it wasn't something you were supposed to feel ever again. Death was an escape from pain. But what happens when you are in-between?

Zelgadis didn't remember how he got to where he was standing. One moment he was half in the wall the next he was standing between the robber and Lina. Blood was rapidly exiting his body and the pain; oh the pain was so unbearable.

Every part of Zelgadis wanted to let go. The pain was too much. He couldn't remember ever feeling pain like that in his life. But then again had he ever been shot before? Not that Zelgadis could remember or want to remember at that moment.

Somewhere in the back of Zelgadis' mind he knew he had to hold on. If he let go the bullet would pass through his body and hit Lina.

The bank robber just stood there dumbfounded. He hadn't been in the bank when Zelgadis first appeared so it was quite frightening to see a ghost just appear and bleed before him. The other two robbers were stunned too as was everyone else in the bank. They all just stared at Zelgadis unsure of what was going on.

The only sounds in that quiet bank were the sounds of dripping blood and heavy scared breathing.

Zelgadis looked up the robber and glared at him. He didn't say a word to the man; Zelgadis just grabbed the gun from him and threw it across the room. "LEAVE!" He painfully growled.

Within seconds anyone in the bank was crawling over each other hysterically trying to get out. The only people who weren't running in fear were Lina and Zelgadis.

"Zel!" Lina went to his side right before he collapsed. In reality she shouldn't be able to touch Zelgadis let alone hold him. But the librarian was flickering between solid and transparent but the blood was very real.

Knowing that Lina was safe Zelgadis tried to let go. But as he soon realized he was beyond the point of doing that. The bullet was stuck and not going to come out. "Lina... help... me..." Zelgadis gasped feeling all his energy leaving him.

"Just hang on there Zel! Don't die!" Lina pleaded with Zelgadis as she lifted him up and dragged him with her.

When dealing with a person suffering from a gunshot wound the best course of action was to put pressure on the wound and call 911. But what do you do when the person in question has been living like a ghost for the past few months? No Lina was on her own.

It was hard pushing past the doors dragging a man that was both bigger and heavier than she was but Lina managed. Some of the people from the bank were gathered around outside looking confused. They were in Lina's way.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Lina screamed at the top of her lungs.

The crowd complied letting Lina through to the car.

Inside the bank the both the pool of blood and the trail leading to the door disappeared.

...

Back at Ghost Slayers Filia was trying to read a magazine while Xellos was staring at her. Just like when Xellos was 'alive' he disliked being ignored. So Filia was trying her best to ignore the purple haired 'ghost'. However you could tell even though Xellos was merely staring at her that Filia was being bothered. The speed from which she turned the pages seemed unnatural for a normal reading speed.

Xellos was amused by this, all he needed to do was stare and he had his Filia bothered. _His Filia._ 'Interesting that I would take ownership of this woman.' Xellos mentally mused to himself. His memories were foggy at best so he couldn't remember why he was so attached to _his Filia_ so much. It mattered little to him.

Filia was just about to say or throw another thing at Xellos when he phone rang. Happy for a real reason to ignore Xellos – Filia happily answered her phone not even bothering to see who it was on the caller id. "Hello?" She pleasantly greeted the person on the line.

Of course that person on the line was anything but pleasant. _"Filia! We have a problem!" _

Filia frowned. It was Lina though there was something strange in her tone. "Lina? What's wrong? You sound weird... am I on speaker phone?"

"_Yes! I'm on my way back right now! It's Zelgadis! It's bad, real bad!" _

Filia's eyes were open very wide from the panic evident in Lina's voice. Lina wasn't the type to crash under pressure so to hear her so stressed was alarming. "Lina what's wrong? What happened to Zelgadis?"

"_There was robbers... One of them tried to shoot me... oh the blood, too much blood!"_

"Lina you were shot!"

"_No! Zel got in the way! Filia he's bleeding badly!" _

"What? Zelgadis got shot...? How...? How is that possible?" Filia almost wasn't sure she believed what Lina was saying.

"_He's not a ghost Filia!" _Lina reminded her. _"He must have willed the bullet to not go through him."_

"What should I do?"

"_Get ready. We'll be there soon."_

"Lina I'm not a doctor!" Filia protested.

"_You're the best thing we've got." _Lina didn't wait for a response she just hung up the phone.

Filia looked around in a panic not sure what things she could do to prepare. What tools did she need? Where should she set up? Could she even do this?

Xellos may be the sort of person to pester someone for fun but even he knew when he shouldn't. Something bad was going on and for once in his life Xellos got out of the way.

...

Lina kept darting her eyes back and forth between the road and Zelgadis. She had put the ghostly librarian in the front seat. Zelgadis was slouched over in his seat and breathing very heavily. It was quite disturbing to see your passenger bleeding while you were trying to drive. It put Lina on edge and made her drive rather erratically. She was speeding and weaving around the traffic in an effort to get back to Ghost Slayers HQ faster. Had there been a cop car patrolling the area they would have surely pulled Lina over for her chaotic driving. Luckily for Lina she didn't have to contend with the police.

It felt like it was taking forever to get back to Ghost Slayers HQ but in reality Lina got back into the parking lot relatively fast. As she parked the car Filia came running down the stairs with Slimer and Xellos following.

"Lina!" Filia called out huffing and puffing. "I brought everything I could think off!"

"Okay get over here!" Lina barked as she opened the passenger door and pulled Zelgadis out of the car and laid him down on the ground.

Filia almost gagged from the sight of all the blood. Everything was covered in it! Even Lina! It was hard to see where the actual wound was. It would have been so easy to freak out and just be flakey all together but Filia couldn't do that. Zelgadis was counting on her. She got down next to him and put down everything she brought. Basically Filia had completely emptied out their medical supply cabinet. At the time it seemed like enough, but now Filia wasn't so sure. "Where was he shot?"

"I think it was his stomach." Lina responded not even sure if that was right. He was standing in front of her when he got shot. It happened so fast that Lina wasn't even sure what was going on. She had been expecting to be dead, not having to deal with a bleeding Zelgadis. She laid Zelgadis' head on her lap while she held his hands.

Slimer looked positively terrified at the sight of Zelgadis covered in blood. He hadn't spent too much time with Zelgadis but Slimer had already gotten a strong attachment to the transparent librarian. So seeing one of his 'friends' on the verge of death was quite upsetting. He kept flying around in circles high above the bloody scene.

Xellos on the other hand seemed more interested than disgusted or horrified. Zelgadis was just like he was after all, a ghost but not at the same time. Seeing Zelgadis bleeding just further confirmed that he wasn't actually dead. How could something already dead be bleeding to death? Only living things can bleed to death. It was in some strange way encouraging to the purple haired professor. So he watched with keen interest.

Filia's hands shook as she donned a pair of latex gloves and opened up Zelgadis' blood soaked shirt. Even with the 'flesh' exposed it was still hard to make sense of the wound. Using some rubbing alcohol Filia cleaned the area.

Zelgadis hissed from the contact with the solution on the wound.

"Zelgadis I'm sorry. I don't have anything to give you for the pain." Filia apologized while beads of sweat formed on her brow.

"Just... do... it..." Zelgadis chocked while gritting his teeth.

Filia was about to reach into the wound with a pair of tweezers when she hesitated. Years of watching medical shows popped into Filia's head that moment making her wonder if this was the best course of action.

"Filia what are you waiting for? Just do it!" Lina ordered her almost hysterically.

"I don't know if I should! Sometimes removing the object does more harm than good!" Filia exclaimed. "I'm not a surgeon I could kill him!"

"We can't take him to a hospital and waiting will kill him!" Lina almost screamed at her. She was very close to grabbing the tweezers and doing it herself.

"Okay okay! Zelgadis get ready this is going to hurt." Filia warned him.

Zelgadis gritted his teeth as he tried not to scream. He was thankful that he had Lina holding his hands, as he was squeezing the life out of them.

Filia was almost going in blindly as she tried to find the bullet. Eventually the tweezers brushed against something solid. Was the bullet? Or was it bone? Filia didn't have time to debate she just went for it. The first few tries had Filia thinking it wasn't the bullet but a bone as it didn't seem to want to budge. But she tried one more time the object relented. Gingerly Filia pulled out the foreign object; the bullet.

Once the bullet was out of Zelgadis he let out a huge sigh of relief right before he passed out.

"Zel?" Lina shook the librarian but she got no response. "Is he...?"

Zelgadis who had been flashing back and forth between being solid and not did one lost flash before going back to his 'normal' transparent self.

"He's still breathing." Filia observed noting the rising and falling of Zelgadis' chest. Amazingly that wasn't even the strangest thing that happened. All of the blood that had been all over the floor, car, Lina and Zelgadis started to disappear. What had once seemed so red and real was nothing more than an afterthought. It looked like it hadn't even been there at all.

"What the hell...?" Lina commented confused by what was happening.

And just when things didn't seem like they could get any weirder the open wound on Zelgadis' stomach started to close in on itself. Within seconds Zelgadis' stomach was back to being the unmarked washboard abs they had been.

"That's... odd..." Filia mumbled.

"Strange indeed." Xellos concurred as he went to poke Zelgadis stomach where the wound had been.

"Don't poke him you piece of garbage!" Filia tried to swat Xellos' hand away forgetting that she couldn't even touch him. "You know this is your fault!" She growled at him. "Zelgadis could have died because of your stupid prank!"

"Well if Zel hadn't gotten between me and the robber I would have gotten shot instead." Lina admitted.

"But Zelgadis showing up at the bank slowed things right? You would have been out of the bank already before the robbers showed up!" Filia rationalized.

Slimer even though he wasn't really paying attention to what the conversation was about was nodding along in agreement. Had Filia not been so focused on the conversation she would have yelled at Slimer. But as it was Slimer's antics went unnoticed.

"So what are you suggesting? We get one of our guns and shoot him so you can beat him up?" Lina raised her eyebrow at her employee.

"I think Zelgadis should beat him up when he wakes up." Filia suggested with an evil smile.

"Assuming he wakes up." Lina sighed worriedly. Yes Zelgadis did seem 'normal' his breathing was still laboured and he seemed paler than usual.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Filia tried to assure her employer. Truthfully Filia didn't know if that was true or not. Zelgadis' non-physical condition was perplexing on a normal day. There was no telling what the long term effects of this recent situation.

Lina was sure Filia was right but she couldn't help but worry. Zelgadis saved her life almost killing himself in the process. 'Well at least he should stop being so mopey about that poltergeist using his body to almost kill me yesterday. If he keeps going on about that I'll shoot him myself.' Lina decided.


	33. Chapter 33

_Author's Notes: I'm doing this part a little early because as it turns out I'm going to be out of town for a couple days for a work related thing. Thankfully I had this part already written (just needed some editing) otherwise it would have gone up waaaay later. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-three

By Relm

"That's not like Miss Lina to not answer her phone." Amelia mused as she and Sylphiel walked back to the university. The two of them had spent some time looking over the car not that they could find out much looking at the car from the outside. They really didn't think they would find the book in the car but it didn't hurt to look. Finding nothing out of the ordinary left the two Ghost Slayers with no reason to stay in the parking lot. Though Sylphiel had called Lina's phone before they started examining the car Amelia was still dwelling on the fact that their boss didn't answer the call.

"Well she is at the bank and talking on your phone while a teller is helping you is very rude. She's probably just busy with her banking. I'll try her again in a little bit. I'm sure she'll answer." Sylphiel rationalized.

"Unless Miss Lina didn't answer her phone because she collapsed somewhere. She shouldn't be off on her own!" Amelia exclaimed with her voice full of worry.

"Amelia it's not going to do you any good to worry yourself sick. I'm sure Miss Lina is fine." Sylphiel insisted trying to calm the youngest Ghost Slayer.

"But she didn't answer her phone!" Amelia protested. "Try calling her again."

Sylphiel shook her head. "I just called her Amelia. Miss Lina will get annoyed if the phone keeps ringing when she can't answer it."

"You didn't just call her Miss Sylphiel; it was like a half hour ago! She should be done her banking by now!" Amelia insisted.

"And she could be in the middle of driving back to headquarters. Do you want me to get her into a car accident?"

"Miss Lina wouldn't answer her phone while driving!" Amelia protested. "So it wouldn't hurt to call her again."

Sylphiel let out a sigh. Amelia was a sweet and passionate girl but she could also be high strung and protective. This wasn't the first time the youngest Ghost Slayer had been worried about their boss. Lina did do a lot of things that were cause for worry. "Alright I'll call her." She got out her phone and started dialling.

"_Hello?"_ Lina answered sounding both tired and far away.

"Miss Lina, It's Sylphiel. Are you alright? Is something wrong? You sound off."

"_Let's just say it wasn't an easy day at the bank." _

"What happened? Was there a problem with the cheques?"

"_Well not really. Basically what happened was Xellos scaredZel. Zel popped up at the bank scaring everyone. He hid and then the bank teller wouldn't cash my cheques. And when things couldn't get any worse a bunch of bank robbers busted into the bank." _

Sylphiel's eyes were as wide as saucers at this little bit of news. "Bank robbers? You were in the middle of a bank robbery? Are you okay?"

"_Physically yes but I'm a little drained. Which is more than I can say for Zel."_

"Mister Zelgadis? What happened to him?"

"_The teller froze up and I had to open my big mouth trying to get her to give the robber the money. So the robber threatened to shoot me. I'd have a bullet shaped hole in my head if Zel hadn't gotten in the way."_

"Mister Zelgadis got shot?"

Amelia was also wide eyed but more since she was only hearing one side of the conversation.

"_Yes he's okay though... I think. I brought him back to HQ and Filia fished out the bullet. The wound closed up and all the blood he bled out disappeared. He's still passed out on the parking lot floor but he appears to be breathing. I'd like to move him somewhere that isn't a hard concrete floor but since he'll all transparent we can't. Xellos probably could but then again we probably shouldn't move him anyway." _The more Lina talked about it more exhausted she sounded.

Just then Sylphiel had an awful thought. "When I called earlier... Did I cause the bank robber to shoot?" 

"_No Sylphiel. That was before the robbers stormed in. Anyway I'm tired about all this bank talk. Obviously you called to tell me something so what did you find at the university?" _

"Just what we figured, Mister Xellos had the book and was probably at the university when he was attacked. He had shown the book to Professor Phibrizzo who confirmed what the book was. Though Professor Phibrizzo figured it was a replica. It seems that Mister Xellos didn't know where the book had come from. We also found his car. It's still in the parking lot and it probably hasn't been driven since yesterday." Sylphiel explained. "We haven't had a chance to get into Mister Xellos' classroom as Miss Filia's step brother is subbing the class."

Lina let out a light chuckle. _"Valgaav teaching the class? Oh boy I feel bad for the students." _

"Yes I feel bad for them too. You should hear how he's yelling at them. Mister Valgaav doesn't seem to be in a good mood. If we're going to get into the classroom we're going to have to wait."

"_No there's no point. I'm sure the book probably disappeared as soon as it attacked him. Come back to headquarters and we'll all put our heads together." _

"Okay Miss Lina we'll be back shortly."

"What happened to Mister Zelgadis? Is he alright?" Amelia quested right away as soon as Sylphiel hung up her cell.

"He got shot but Miss Lina thinks he's okay now. Miss Filia got the bullet out." Sylphiel explained.

"How could he get shot? Mister Zelgadis is transparent!" Amelia wondered.

"I don't know. Miss Lina wants us back right away. So let's go."

...

Back at Ghost Slayer HQ Lina sat slouched against the Ghost Slayermobile watching the ghostly librarian sleep. She had been like that since Filia had taken the bullet out of Zelgadis. Since they didn't want to move Zelgadis he was still laying on the parking lot floor. Not wanting to leave him there all alone it was decided that they should take turns watching him. Since Lina felt very physically drained she didn't feel much like going up several flights of stairs so she volunteered take the first watch.

It was a strange thing to watch a man who looked like a ghost sleep. His body was transparent like a ghost yet his chest rose and fell with each breath. If he wasn't transparent you would just assume he was a man sleeping peacefully on the ground with his shirt ripped open.

Lina hadn't known Zelgadis for every long but he had almost killed her and almost got killed trying to save her. It was a very strange relationship. The more she got to know him the less she felt she knew.

Looking down at her hands Lina remembered the feel of Zelgadis' blood that had spilled all over her. It had been bright red and warm just like blood was supposed to be like. Zelgadis' body had been heavy to drag to the car but it had also been warm too. At that moment despite the flickering of his body Zelgadis had seemed exactly like a normal bleeding man. But the blood was gone now and so was Zelgadis' physical presence.

'What is happening to you Zel?' Lina mentally posed that question knowing full well she wouldn't get an answer.

The sound of a car engine broke Lina from her thoughts as car came into the parking lot. It was Sylphiel and Amelia returning from the University. Not realizing so much time had past Lina had to wonder how long she was lost in thought. 'I must be more tired than I thought...' Lina thought as she rose to her feet and waited by the Ghost Slayermobile for her workers to park.

"Miss Lina!" Both Amelia and Sylphiel called out as they got out of the car.

"Are you alright?" Sylphiel asked as they approached their boss.

"Very tired." Lina admitted. "But probably better than he's doing." Lina motioned to Zelgadis on the floor.

"At least he seems to be sleeping peacefully." Sylphiel observed. "Is this where the bullet wound was?" She pointed to where Zelgadis' shirt was ripped.

"Yeah he was shot in the stomach. But as you can see the wound healed itself and there's no blood. It just disappeared."

Sylphiel frowned. "What happened to the bullet? Did it disappear too?"

Lina shook her head. "No it didn't. Filia has it right now. She's doing some tests on it."

"I'd like to take a look at it myself. Did the blood disappear from the bullet too?"

"Yup, it's clean as a whistle."

"I'd like to take a look at it myself." Sylphiel stated while getting up. "Unless there was something else you wanted me to do?"

Lina shook her head. "No you two go upstairs. I'm going to watch Zel for a while. I'll bring him up if he wakes up. Filia said she'd come down in a couple hours to switch places with me."

"Are you sure? Myself or Amelia could stay and look after him." Sylphiel suggested.

"Yeah you look like you could use some rest Miss Lina." Amelia added.

"Nah it's okay. I gotta call the bank anyway seeing how I didn't get to cash my cheques. In fact they have the cheques so I really need to call them." Lina realized. "Crap I bet they lost them too! Oh man! This day sucks..."

"Well at least you're not dead." Sylphiel offered sympathetically.

Lina rolled her eyes. "If I had died I would have haunted that stupid bank and terrorized that dumb teller." Lina grumbled sitting herself back down on the ground next to Zelgadis' sleeping form.

"You know by the time you die Miss Lina you're going to have lots of places you're going to haunt." Amelia said with a small smile.

"Yeah I'll be the busiest poltergeist in Sailune." Lina joked sarcastically.

"Okay, well call us if you need us Miss Lina."

Lina out another big sigh after Sylphiel and Amelia left. Pulling out her cell phone Lina really didn't want to have to make the call to the bank. "Better get this over with..."

...

While Amelia went to the office area to deal with any potential phone calls Sylphiel went to see Filia in her lab.

In the lab Filia was doing her best to examine the bullet while both Xellos and Slimer were staring at the blond woman intently. Had Filia not been so focused on what she was doing she might have been annoyed with being watched.

"Miss Filia?" Sylphiel softly questioned from the doorway.

"GAH!" Filia screamed while recoiling in shock. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She snapped at Sylphiel.

"I'm sorry! I didn't figure I would scare you." Sylphiel apologized while coming into the lab. "I mean you've got Slimer and Mister Xellos with you and all."

"I do?" Filia looked around and jumped once more. "What? When did you two get in here?" Filia shouted.

"We've been here the whole time." Xellos commented with an unhappy pout. He quite enjoyed annoying Filia but to be ignored to the point of being completely forgotten was quite insulting.

Slimmer nodded also looking somewhat insulted.

"Oh." Filia laughed nervously.

"Anyway what did you find out about the bullet?" Sylphiel wondered as she sat herself down next to her co-worker.

"Did Lina tell you the whole story?"

"She didn't go into massive detail like she would normally but I think she's a little drained for that. But I'm pretty sure I know the important details. That's a bullet shot from a bank robber's gun that was meant for Miss Lina. But Mister Zelgadis took the shot instead." Sylphiel clarified.

"Yup and I took it out of him." Filia showed Sylphiel the bullet under a magnifying glass.

"I'm not a bullet expert but that's kinda what bullets look like in those forensics television shows after it's been pulled out of someone." Sylphiel observed.

"I came to that same exact conclusion. If Zelgadis was a true ghost and just somehow managed to stop the bullet it shouldn't look all mangled mushroom shaped like this. But then again transparent people shouldn't almost bleed to death." Filia commented sarcastically.

"Is there any blood on the bullet? Like trace amounts that aren't visible to the naked eye?"

Filia shook her head. "Nope, it's completely clean."

"What about other things? Like strange residue?"

"Not any that I can find. But if you want to take a crack at it it's all yours." Filia handed over the equipment to Sylphiel.

"This job just gets stranger and stranger each day." Sylphiel mused.

"That's for sure."

...

Going over files and files of paper work can be very tedious and boring. Especially when you weren't the paperwork type of a person. And Gourry was far from being secretarial. The blond police detective had to fight off a symphony of yawns as he worked on the mountain of paperwork he had been ignoring for quite some time. He would have gotten out of it today if he hadn't accidently spilled hot coffee on the chief. Now there was no chance for escape for Gourry. He was almost literately chained to his desk.

Zangulus on the other hand found this amusing. For years he had been stuck picking up the slack of doing the paperwork. It was supposed to be fifty-fifty but it never was. So being able to watch Gourry suffer through something he had been forced to do for years was a rare delight for the curly haired officer.

"Zangulus must you watch me like that?" Gourry whined. "You'd think you were enjoying watching me suffer."

"Oh I am." Zangulus responded with evil glee as he took a sip of his coffee. "You know the coffee is really good today. Don't you think? Except it looks like I just finished what I had. I think I'll go get another cup. Do you want another one Gourry?"

Gourry frowned and glared at him. "Zangulus! You're so mean!"

Zangulus just laughed as he walked away.

Amongst all the papers scattered on Gourry's desk laid the demonic book open and ready to claim another victim. However there were too many eyes to see and the book needed not to be seen. For books were fragile things after all easily destroyed by water and fire. And destroying the book wouldn't set it free.

So the book laid there waiting for the right moment...


	34. Chapter 34

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-four

By Relm

It had taken Lina almost an hour of talking and waiting on hold to get her banking affairs in order. The bank promised to deposit the cheques but Lina was going to have to come in the next day to sign for them. Otherwise there would be a hold on the cheques until Lina came in. And even though she narrowly escaped death just a little while ago Lina assured them she would come in. Truthfully Lina didn't want to set foot in that bank for a while but she had no choice. With all the bills piling up the Ghost Slayers' bank account was in desperate need of funds.

Lina let out a deep sigh as she looked over at her ghostly savoir. Zelgadis was exactly as he was before she had gotten on the phone, asleep on the ground. Looking at Zelgadis at that moment made Lina realize just how tired she really was. She knew she was physically tired but hadn't realized she was sleepy too. And there was nothing worse than to watch someone sleep when you were sleepy yourself. God did Lina want to take a nap at that moment.

'I could call Filia or Sylphiel.' Lina thought to herself while looking down at her cell phone still in her hands. Her thumb hovered over the keys but she decided against it. If they had a working elevator then Lina would have definitely done it, but they didn't. And Lina didn't want to climb all those stairs.

Letting out another deep sigh Lina decided she was just going to close her eyes for a moment. It was a bad thing for a sleepy person to do. To a sleepy person it might sleep like a good idea but the moment those lids closed it was off to dreamland.

...

While Sylphiel worked on examining the bullet Xellos, Filia and Slimer watched her intently. Though Filia had worked well enough under prying eyes unaware of anyone in the room that wasn't the case for Sylphiel. She did try to concentrate on what she was doing but it was hard when she felt three pairs of eyes on her.

"Could you three please do something else?" Sylphiel pleaded with them. "It's hard to work when I feel like I'm being examined under a microscope."

"Hey I did it." Filia retorted back feeling rather pleased with herself.

"You didn't even know they were there." Sylphiel whined with a frown.

The two said 'pests' glared at Filia. It seems they were getting bored as Slimer decided to show Xellos just how many petri dishes he could stuff into his mouth.

"Well what have you found so far?"

"Nothing. Which is unusual." Sylphiel mumbled more to herself than to Filia.

"What do you mean?"

"Well this bullet came out of a gun and was shot into a person's body. No matter what there should be trace of something on it. But it's almost as though it's been cleaned in bleach or something. Or Slimer's goo. It's completely clean." Sylphiel exclaimed with a sigh.

Filia glared at Slimer. "Did you lick the bullet when I wasn't looking?"

Slimer smiled with all eleven of his petri dishes showing. He shook his head accidently dropping a few.

"Even though it does seem like something Slimer would do I doubt he did it. You were pretty focused on the bullet when I got in here so I doubt you let it get out of your sight enough for Slimer to do anything." Sylphiel rationalized.

"Well if Slimer didn't do anything to the bullet... basically what you're saying is that we have nothing to report to Lina." Filia clarified.

"Well the fact that we found nothing is something but yeah nothing that would give us a better understanding of what is happening to Mister Zelgadis." Sylphiel admitted. "I could redo the tests but I'm pretty sure I'll get the same results."

"Is there anything else you could try?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "Not anything I can think of. You?"

"No." Filia let out a sigh of her own. "Lina isn't going to be happy with this."

"I know. After everything she and Mister Zelgadis went through at the bank I'm sure she was hoping we could come up with something."

...

When Zelgadis woke up he felt like he had a weight on his chest. His whole body felt heavy even his eyes. He wanted to open them but he just couldn't muster up enough energy to lift those lids. This immobilization might have been concerning to the ghostly librarian but his mind was too muddled for him to care. Zelgadis' mind was completely fuzzy and he had no idea where he was or what had happened.

He tried to speak but the only sound that came out of Zelgadis' lips was a tortured moan. The sound of the moan echoed throughout the room making Zelgadis wonder exactly where he was. The ground underneath him felt cold and hard which further confused him.

'Where am I?' Zelgadis mentally wondered. 'What happened to me?' The more Zelgadis tried to remember the more he felt his head hurt. Whatever happened to him really took a toll on his body.

Though initially Zelgadis wasn't that upset about not being able to move the gravity of his situation was really starting to sink in. He was almost frantic as he tried to move. But alas Zelgadis remained as still as a statue. 'Calm down Zel.' Zelgadis told himself. 'Getting yourself all worked up isn't helping anything. Relax and focus. You can do this.'

It took a good couple minutes of intense focus for Zelgadis to finally muster enough energy to open his eyes. When he finally did he found he was surrounded by gray. Everything was blurry. He tried to move his head but instead just moved his eyes. As he did so his eyes fell upon something orangey red. Zelgadis blinked a few times till the blurry orangey red blob turned into the sleeping form of Lina Inverse. She was slumped against the Ghostslayersmobile almost like a discarded ragdoll.

"...Lina..." Zelgadis tried to alert the redhead. But his voice was quiet and raspy. It came out in a sad whisper.

The sleeping Ghost Slayer's boss failed to stir and still remained in her slumber.

"Lina..." Zelgadis tried again. This time it was little bit louder but not by much. This was frustrating for the librarian. "Lina!" He tried once more with as much volume as he could manage.

Maybe it was hearing her name or maybe it was feeling of having a set of eyes on her, but this time Lina stirred. "Oh crap I fell asleep?" Lina mumbled to herself while rubbing her eyes.

"You're awake now." Zelgadis commented in a near whisper.

Lina's eyes shot open right away. She looked down and was surprised to see Zelgadis awake. "Zel! You're awake! How are you feeling?"

"...tired... I can't move."

"Well that's understandable given how much blood you lost." Lina mused.

"...blood?" Zelgadis frowned in confusion.

"You don't remember what happened?" Lina prompted him.

"Not really... it's fuzzy."

"I was at the bank and you popped up because Xellos scared you. I made you hide in the wall but a group of bank robbers came rushing in."

"One of them was going to shoot you... I got in the way..." Zelgadis added starting to remember what happened.

"Yeah that's right. You saved my life but you were bleeding pretty badly. I brought you back here and Filia fished the bullet out. Your blood disappeared and the wound healed itself." Lina explained the rest.

"Oh." Zelgadis moved his right hand to feel for the wound on his stomach and it wasn't there. "My shirt is open." He realized feeling a little bashful.

Lina chuckled. "Well you went transparent after the bullet got removed so I couldn't exactly button it back up."

"And I'm on the parking lot floor..." Zelgadis mumbled as he slowly buttoned up his shirt again. His hands were still weak so this was a difficult process. But at least he wasn't completely immobile like when he first woke.

"Again I couldn't touch you afterwards. Can you sit up?"

Zelgadis pondered that question for a moment before obliging to Lina's request. With his hands at his sides to use as leverage Zelgadis tried to sit himself up. But quickly that action proved to be hard as he fell back after only rising a few inches. "I need a couple minutes." He admitted sheepishly.

Lina nodded in agreement. "Take as much time as you need Zel. I'm in no hurry myself."

"You do look very tired. Maybe you should take a vacation." Zelgadis darkly joked.

"Until I can get the business's finances in order I ain't going anywhere." Lina crossed her arms to emphasize her point.

"Did you manage to cash those cheques?"

Lina shook her head. "No I didn't thanks to those damn bank robbers. I have to go back to the bank tomorrow."

A bolt of fear flashed through Zelgadis' sapphire blue eyes as he looked at Lina. "Go back? You almost got killed today!"

Lina rolled her eyes. "Not this again. I can't hide every time someone tries to kill me. It's unfortunate but it happens. And I wasn't even the one almost killed. You were."

"Yeah and what would have happened if I hadn't been there?" Zelgadis shot back rather quickly.

"I probably would have been out of the bank already."

This revelation made Zelgadis frown in guilt. "So you're saying because of me you were in danger."

"No. Because of Xellos I was in danger. Honestly I wish he was co-operative like you instead of a loose cannon." Lina let out a sigh. "And who knows how many other victims there are out there that we don't know about."

"There could be a hundred ghosts like me floating around."

Lina glared at him. "You're not a ghost." She reminded him.

Zelgadis just sighed. "What do we do now?"

"Once you're up to it we'll go see what Filia and Sylphiel found out about that bullet."

"I thought you said the blood disappeared? So the bullet didn't?"

Lina shook her head. "Nope. Strange huh? Hopefully Sylphiel and Filia found something. You up to trying to move again?"

Zelgadis took a deep breath before trying to sit up. This time it wasn't so hard and not only did Zelgadis sit up but he managed to stand up as well. "I don't feel a hundred percent but I think I can manage to get up the stairs."

"Glad one of us is confident." Lina muttered to herself.

"Do you want to stay here a little longer?"

"No. Let's go." Lina went to get up but her legs were half asleep and she found herself losing her balance. She would have fallen flat on her face had it not been for Zelgadis who caught her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Lina looked at him suspiciously.

"What?" Zelgadis looked at her confused.

"You're holding me." Lina pointed out.

"I am?" Zelgadis looked down and noticed he had his arms around her. Had it not been for the oddity factor of a ghost creature holding up a living person Zelgadis might have blushed. But this strange gesture was short lived. As soon as Zelgadis realized he was holding onto the redhead he lost his physical grip and Lina still fell forward.

"Damn!" Lina cursed under her breathe as she rubbed her now bruised limbs.

"Sorry." Zelgadis had his head down in shame.

"Don't worry about it Zel." Lina got up and dusted herself off. "I should have realized you wouldn't be able to hold onto your physical hold for too long."

"Still that looked like it hurt."

"I've had worse done to me before. Believe me; I must have broken almost every single bone in body at least once." Lina assured him.

"Well be careful going up the stairs. I may not be able to stop you if you fall." Zelgadis warned her.

"Yes mommy."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes as he followed behind Lina. Walking towards the stairs Zelgadis looked down at his hands. It was disturbing to look at what should be your own flesh and see right through it. 'I wonder how many other people are stuck like this...'


	35. Chapter 35

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-five

By Relm

Sylphiel and Filia were still talking about the bullet when Lina and Zelgadis came into the lab.

"Mister Zelgadis! You're awake!" Sylphiel exclaimed in shock. She hadn't been expecting them to show up so soon. After what had happened to Zelgadis Sylphiel had expected the ghostly librarian would still be unconscious for quite some time.

"How are you feeling?" Filia got up to look Zelgadis over. "Lift up your shirt." She ordered him.

"Filia!" Lina protested almost angrily.

"Well I was the one that pulled that bullet out. Is it so strange to want to see the wound?" Filia shot back with a raised eyebrow.

"You know damned well the wound healed up on its own. So why the hell would you want to see it for?" Lina barked feeling just a bit annoyed by Filia's forwardness.

Filia smiled a half smirk. "Oh, so that's it. You don't want me to look at your boyfriend's half naked torso."

Right away Zelgadis blushed at Filia's suggestion while Lina just rolled her eyes.

"Of course you would have to go there." Lina shook her head. "He's fine. A little tired and wobbly but I'm pretty sure that's understandable given the circumstances."

"How are you feeling Miss Lina?" Sylphiel asked while getting Lina a chair to sit on.

"Oh I'm fine." Lina lied.

"You look exhausted." Sylphiel narrowed her eyes at her.

"Well I did take a little nap..." Lina half mumbled under her breathe. She wasn't intending to say it out loud but perhaps she was too tired as she seemed to lose her sense of inner monologue.

Now this got Filia glaring. "Lina you were supposed to call one of us to watch Zelgadis if you couldn't. Why the heck would you go to sleep for?"

"I wasn't trying to sleep..." Lina grumbled. "I just closed my eyes for a second I swear!"

"Miss Lina you should go get some sleep." Sylphiel suggested while frowning. As usual Lina brought out the worrier in the green eyed Ghost Slayer.

"I agree. Lina you almost fell down the stairs twice coming up here." Zelgadis chided. "You need some sleep."

"What I need is some food. I'm starving." Lina protested and her stomach grumbled in agreement.

"You're always hungry." Filia rolled her eyes.

"What did you two find on the bullet?" Lina asked while looking at said bullet from her chair.

"Not much." Sylphiel let out a sigh. "The bullet is clean but deformed. It looks like well what a bullet looks like when it's removed from a body. But it has nothing on it like blood or gunpowder."

"Did Slimer lick it?" Lina asked with a raised eyebrow.

Slimer smiled a not so innocent smile in his defence. The petri dishes in his mouth oozed out onto the floor.

"No." Filia was quick to answer. "More likely the bullet got clean when all of Zelgadis' blood disappeared."

Lina frowned while thinking. "If it was just a case of a ghost stopping a bullet the bullet would be intact and normal. But because it made Zel bleed and the bullet didn't keep its original shape it suggests Zelgadis isn't a ghost... This just tells me Zel's not a ghost. Which is what we've been thinking for a while now anyway."

"Sorry Miss Lina. I know you were hoping we'd find something." Sylphiel apologized.

"Don't be. I figured we wouldn't get anything useful from the bullet. It's just one mystery after another around here." Lina let out a long sigh.

"But isn't things like mysteries that make life fun?" Xellos commented with a mischievous smile. The professor had been quiet up until now content with just watching. However he was never one who liked to be ignored.

Upon hearing Xellos speak right away Zelgadis removed his belt. The ghostly librarian didn't say anything as he walked over to the professor. He didn't even look at Xellos. No Zelgadis just walked right over to him and hit him as hard as he could with his belt.

"OWWWWW!" Xellos shrieked while disappearing. He reappeared behind Filia whom he hid behind. "Why did you do that for?"

"That's for almost getting Lina killed." Zelgadis replied while crossing his arms. Though he didn't like to admit it, he greatly enjoyed causing pain in the professor.

"Do it again!" Filia requested in a very excited tone.

"Filia you're supposed to protect me!" Xellos whined.

"No I don't and get away from me!" Filia looked at him with disgust.

"If Zel wants to beat you senseless then who are we to stop him? Because we can't." Lina reminded him.

Zelgadis flashed Xellos a devious smile.

...

While the others were in the lab Amelia was sitting by herself in the office waiting for the phone to ring. Since she had been sitting there for quite a while and nothing was happening Amelia was spending the time reading a magazine. At that very moment Amelia was very much occupied with one of those lifestyle quizzes that most fashion magazines contained. This particular one rated you on how trendy you were. She was almost at the end of the quiz when her cell phone rang. Since she had been so invested in the quiz the sound of her cell phone was unexpected and it made the youngest Ghost Slayer jump.

"Hello?" Amelia answered the phone with a shaky voice.

"_Hey sis it's me." _Naga/Gracia's voice almost sang over the phone. As usual the busty starlet sounded very pleased with herself.

"Oh! Hi Gracia. You scared me when you called!"

"_Yeah that's nice, so who did you get?" _Naga/Gracia as usual brushed off Amelia's comments and went straight to what she was calling about in an almost rude fashion.

"What do you mean?" Amelia asked not completely following her sister's train of thought.

"_Earlier I asked you to get me a date, remember?" _Naga/Gracia reminded her in a snobbish voice. _"Who did you get me? Is he cute? I want details!" _

"Well he's tall... and around your age..." Amelia trailed off. She didn't know how to describe Val without letting on that she thought he was scary.

"_Is he cute? Or more importantly is he rich?" _

"Ah... um... he's an English literature professor at Sailune University."

"_A professor? Oh god... you set me up with a dull boring dud didn't you?" _

"He's not boring I swear!" Amelia was quick to respond. 'He's too scary to be boring...' She mentally added.

"_Okay so he's not boring and clearly not rich... but at least he's got a stable job. Well money isn't everything as long as he's got the looks! Because if you set me up with a poor ugly geek then I wouldn't be happy." _Her voice was almost threatening.

A sweatdrop trailed down the side of Amelia's head after hearing her sister's comment. 'Sis you're so shallow...' She thought to herself while shaking her head. "Well he's not ugly that's for sure... But he's not my type..."

"_OHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Of course not! You like puppies and kittens while I like tigers and wolves. I like real men!"_

"He's not a puppy I can guarantee you that."

The tone of Amelia's voice tipped Naga/Gracia off that there was something wrong with this mystery date. _"What's wrong with him? Does he have a horn on his head? Or scars on his face?"_

"There's nothing wrong with him I swear!" Amelia insisted. "He's got short aqua hair, amber eyes and no scars or horns to speak off. He's muscular but he might... be... a tad short for you."

"_I wanted a tall man dear sister." _Naga/Gracia's voice didn't sound impressed.

"He is tall! But almost all guys are too short for you. If anything he's going to be either your height or just a little bit shorter."

"_How short?"_

"An inch or two at most."

"_Alright I'll let that slide. So he's cute?"_

"I happen to know the students rate him as one of the two most handsome professors at the school."

"_Who is the other one?"_

"Mister Xellos."

"_Oh I remember him. Isn't he your co-worker Filia's boyfriend?"_

"No, and never say that in front of Filia!" Amelia threatened her.

"_So if it's not Xellos then who is he?"_

"His name is Val. He's going to meet you at the theatre like you asked."

"_Val... why haven't I met this handsome devil before?" _

"I guess fate just... never had your paths cross before?" Amelia let out a nervous giggle.

"_OHOHOHOHOHOH! How true is that! Thank you sissy love you lots!" _And with that Naga/Gracia hung up the phone.

Even though the phone conversation was over Amelia still felt the dread sloshing around her stomach. She hated it when her sister put her in these sort of situations. 'I forgot to tell her about the lie we told Val!' Amelia mentally cursed. 'If Mister Val brings up 'stealing' her away from Mister Xellos and she doesn't know what she's talking about Mister Val is going to be so angry with me.'

Feeling defeated no matter what the scenario would be Amelia went back to her magazine quiz. However it had lost its previous lure.

...

Gourry let out a heavy sigh as he looked at the mountain of paperwork looming from his desk. The day which hadn't proved be a good one to start with was getting worse and worse as time went on. Since spilling coffee on the boss Gourry had made blunder after blunder resulting with more work being piled on him as punishment. Since Gourry wasn't the type to speed through paper work it was very likely he wasn't going to get out of the station for a long time.

As more people left the pages of the evil book on Gourry's desk glowed as the misty hand waited impatiently. It was going to have its victim and it would be tonight. It will not be delayed any longer. Waiting was something this creature had become accustomed to but this was different. The more victims it took the closer it got to its goal.


	36. Chapter 36

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-six

By Relm

After work Val had a satisfied smile on his as he headed to his car. This was a scary sight as the English professor rarely smiled. Usually he was angry about something. So it was more common to see a frown or a scowl on his face.

Those that saw the professor kept their distance. If Val was smiling something horrible was bound to happen. Why was Val so happy? He had a date tonight.

Though one could argue that the only reason why Val was happy was he thought he was stealing Xellos' date. And that was true to a certain degree. But it had also been a long time since Val had been on a date.

Val was a handsome man but he usually scared the women he met. His only hope for a social life was blind dates. However most people chose not to offer to set Val up on a date. You would have to hate your female friend a lot to set her up with him.

There was a bit of a skip to Val's step as he got to his car. He tried to imagine what his date would look like. In his mind Gracia was tall with long lustrous hair and sexy bedroom blue eyes and Val wasn't far off with his picture.

Val also imagined he would so dashing and charming that he would make Gracia swoon. He even had his outfit picked out in his head too. He decided he was going to wear his dark gray suit, pale yellow dress shirt and his gray-silver striped tie.

In Val's mind there was no way he mess things up. He was a sexy beast after all.

...

Amelia nervously looked back and forth between the clock and her co-workers. Since deciding the bullet was a dead end the rest of the Ghost Slayers joined Amelia in the office.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Lina snapped at Amelia after watching the youngest Ghost Slayers' eyes dart around for the last ten minutes.

"Doing what?" Amelia wondered while giggling nervously.

"You keep looking at that damned clock!" Lina barked.

"She's nervous because her sister is going to be going out with my step-brother tonight." Filia explained. "And she should be nervous, because I'm probably going to end up killing her for it." She glared daggers at Amelia while stating this. Filia knew that the date was going to be a disaster. And how could it not? Naga was the most annoying woman in the world. And even though Filia acted like she didn't like for her step-brother the truth was she really did care for him. 'That big chested bimbo better not hurt Val!'

Lina unconsciously shuddered thinking about Naga. "That's nice and all but we have other things to worry about. Like Xellos' car."

"What about it?" Xellos retorted almost defensively. He couldn't remember his car but that didn't stop him from feeling like he needed to defend it.

"It's sitting in the University parking lot. You're supposed to be home sick. If someone sees it and realizes it shouldn't be there that could cause us problems. We need to move it."

"How are we going to do that? We don't have his car keys." Amelia protested. "You're not meaning to break into the car and hotwire it are you?"

"No." Lina rolled her eyes. In a pinch she could steal a car easily but she had put those days behind her. "Xellos empty out your pockets."

"Miss Lina even if he has his keys won't they be transparent like him?" Sylphiel questioned her boss in confusion.

"Remember Zel's newspaper? I bet if he puts something down what he was attacked with it be physical again once he let's go of it." Lina explained.

Xellos frowned as he looked at Lina sceptically. "If I do that you will have my car keys."

"So?"

"Then you would take my car."

"Well that's the point; we need to move your car."

"What if I don't want you to drive my car?" Xellos retorted stubbornly while crossing his arms across his chest.

"For crying out loud! We're trying to help us and you're not even going to let us drive your car, which you can't even drive in your current state as it is?" Lina exclaimed in annoyance.

"Well I don't want anyone to ruin it." Xellos huffed.

"Do you even remember what kind of car you drive?"

"No." Xellos admitted. "But I know it's a nice car."

"How the hell can you know that?"

"Because I would only own nice things." He rationalized smugly.

Filia felt her blood boil at that comment. Though Xellos didn't remember the name of his car and wasn't meaning as a jab at Filia she still was irked by it. Xellos may have a car with licence plate 'FILIA' but he sure as hell didn't own her. That being said Filia still had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from snapping at that comment. Instead she chose to bark orders at the ghostly professor. "Empty your pockets!"

The notable anger in Filia's voice tipped off Xellos that his car was a sore spot with the blond ghost slayer. This made him both curious and amused. "Oh? Is there a reason you want to drive my car?"

"No I don't care about your stupid car!" Filia fumed.

"I'm sure she's sleek sexy and fun to ride." Xellos wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

This made Filia want to scream. She tried to hit Xellos with a phone book but it just went through him. "GRAAAH!"

"My my, so hostile. You must really hate my sexy baby. I have no idea why, I'm sure she purrs like a kitten when you turn her on." Xellos couldn't remember why Filia would get upset for him saying this but he knew he should say it.

Filia was ready to tackle Xellos but Lina and Sylphiel were quick to stop her. It's not like the blond Ghost Slayer would have really hurt the ghostly professor but there was a good chance Filia would have either hurt herself or destroy the room. That left Lina and Sylphiel desperately trying to hold her back.

"Filia stop this now!" Lina screamed. "It's not like he remembers his stupid car! He doesn't know why saying this crap would annoy you he just knows it does! You can't even hurt him!"

"Please Miss Filia stop this!" Sylphiel pleaded with Filia.

"Fine!" Filia growled as she shook off Lina and Sylphiel's hold on her.

"Give us the keys Xellos." Lina glared at Xellos.

Xellos just smiled but chose to not oblige.

Lina looked to Zelgadis pleadingly hoping he'd know what she wanted without saying it out loud.

Zelgadis got the message loud and clear and he rolled his eyes in response. He didn't say anything as he walked over behind Xellos and shoved him down to the table.

"HEY!" Xellos protested. "I do not like being manhandled!"

Zelgadis ignored Xellos' protests and proceeded to search through the professor's pockets. It didn't take Zelgadis long to find Xellos keys and quickly tossed them on the table.

The keys made a strange noise as they hit the table. Or rather it was a lack of a noise. They were transparent as they hit the table surface but acted just how a set of keys would react just no sound.

Everyone in the room watched in silence waiting for something to happen. For a couple moments it seemed that the keys were going to stay in the state they were and not change. Lina was just about to make a comment when keys started to change. Within seconds it changed consistency becoming real solid metal keys.

"It worked!" Lina exclaimed in joy. It was nice to finally have something go right for once.

Xellos frowned in confusion as he pulled an identical set of keys out his pocket. He looked at the transparent set in his equally transparent hands and the now solid set on the table. "This is unexpected."

"Not really. That happened to me with the newspaper." Zelgadis explained while pulling out the same newspaper he had on him when Lina and company zapped him the first time. It was possible that when Zelgadis was attacked he had that newspaper on him. That didn't exactly make much sense as Zelgadis had been reading in the library when the book grabbed him. And what he had been reading wasn't the newspaper. But during his loop he did have the paper when he was zapped. "I've been trying to do the crossword puzzle but I'm stuck. I would like to try another one but this stupid paper is the only thing I can hold."

Xellos was still sceptical about Zelgadis' explanation so he threw the set of keys he had in his hand and threw them on the table. The landed next to the first set and disappeared. Xellos then searched his pockets once more and found another identical set of keys. "Very strange..."

"So who is going to drive Mister Xellos' car?" Amelia wondered.

"I think I should decide as it is my car after all." Xellos huffed with his arms crossed.

"Sylphiel you're driving." Lina decided.

"Excuse me I just said I should decide!" Xellos protested.

"And I don't care. It's not like you remember much about us, but I'm pretty sure you'd want the safest driver driving your car. Amelia would be too scared to drive the car, Filia would want to crash it and I'm too tired to drive. So who would pick?" Lina raised her eyebrow at Xellos.

Sylphiel timidly raised her hand. "What if I'm also too afraid to drive the car?"

"Sylphiel!" Lina scowled.

"Well it's a fast car... I've never driven a car like that." Sylphiel replied meekly shrinking in her seat.

"You're driving, end of story!" Lina stated rather forcefully. "Amelia you go with her so you can drive her car back."

"But we were both just at the university!" Amelia protested while groaning.

"I don't care! Geesh! What's the point of being boss if no one is going to listen to you when you give orders?" Lina grumbled.

"Don't worry Miss Lina we'll get the car." Sylphiel reassured her boss. "But I'm going to drive as slow as possible so it might be a while."

"Whatever as long as you get the car here."

"They should probably check the car for clues." Zelgadis suggested.

"Yeah what he said." Lina added on.

"Alright we're going. We'll see you guys later." And with that Sylphiel and Amelia went towards the stairs leading down leaving the remaining Ghost Slayers and ghosts still in the office.

"So what are we going to do about them?" Filia asked Lina while motioning to their ghostly friends.

"I don't know... Something tells me leaving them alone would be troublesome." Lina mused.

"Excuse me! I'm not a trouble maker!" Zelgadis exclaimed in disgust. There was no way anyone could accuse him of being a bad 'ghost' – he had tried to be good and do everything he was told. It wasn't his fault that he got scared a couple times and that a poltergeist decided to possess him.

"You're right, you're not. But I can't say the same for Slimer and Xellos." Lina glared at the two troublemakers. "If either one of them scares you you'll end up popping up next to me."

"I wonder where I'd pop up if I got frightened..." Xellos pondered the notion while getting far too close to Filia. "Perhaps to my darling Filia?"

"I am not your anything!" Filia screamed while trying to swat her ghostly irritator.

"Yeah definitely not leaving them unsupervised..." Lina concluded. "I'm going to stay."

Filia snapped out of her rage to stare at her boss with concerning eyes. "That's not a good idea. You should go home and rest."

"I really don't feel up to driving or doing anything. So I may as well stay here." Lina explained. "I am hungry though so I think I'm going to order some food."

"Okay but remember... we haven't gotten those cheques cashed yet." Filia reminded her in a chiding voice.

Lina frowned in disgust. She had actually forgotten about that. Given their cash flow situation she really shouldn't be ordering food. But it couldn't be helped. "Well maybe Zel and I can do that ghost scheme that that teller was accusing me off." Lina mumbled to herself as she grabbed the phone and stack of take out menus.

"What scheme?" Filia wondered.

"Oh nothing!" Lina laughed nervously. She fanned out the menus for Filia to see. "Pick the one you think will be the cheapest."


	37. Chapter 37

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-seven

By Relm

Sylphiel did keep her promise; she did take a long time to get Xellos' car back to Ghost Slayers HQ. The whole time she was driving it she was terrified. It was a fast car and it was a standard to boot and Sylphiel wasn't used to driving standard. But she managed to do it and get the car and herself back safely.

"I never want to do that again..." Sylphiel muttered to herself as she parked the car. She was a frazzled mess and couldn't stop shaking.

"Are you okay Miss Sylphiel?" Amelia asked her co-worker with concern.

"That car is possessed!" Sylphiel exclaimed with wide wild eyes.

On instinct Amelia whipped out her scanner to do some readings. "Are you sure there? I'm not getting any ghost readings..."

Sylphiel narrowed her eyes and let out a tired sigh. "I mean it's a demon car. I can't believe anyone can drive that thing and not get into an accident!"

"Well you managed to drive back here so good for you." Amelia smiled sheepishly. "Even if it took over an hour..." She added silently.

Sylphiel sighed once more.

...

Val smiled as he looked at himself in the mirror. There he was all dressed up in his nice dark gray suit, tie and yellow shirt. His hair was perfect, face shaved and he was wearing his good cologne. If you didn't know Val and saw him on the street you'd have to look twice at him. He was just that yummy. Or at least that's what Val thought in his head. But a positive attitude was always best when going on blind dates. Even if it was borderline egomaniac positive attitude.

With just a slight adjustment of his tie and Val was ready to go off to pick up his date. Between the time he left the school and got ready that vision of what Gracia would look like altered creating someone what might seem impossible. She wasn't just a tall girl she was supermodel tall with really long shapely legs. But her body wasn't a typical supermodel, no in Val's mind Gracia's body was like a porn star's. Val had no reason to think this was the case other but he was a male after all. And what guy doesn't want a blind date to look like she could be a porn star?

The strange thing was the more Val morphed Gracia in his mind the closer he was getting to what Amelia's older sister really looked like.

Since he assumed there would be drinking on this date Val did the responsible thing and called for a taxi. There was no way he was going to drive his car and have to leave it someplace overnight because he was too drunk to drive. And driving home drunk was a loser way of getting home in his opinion. Probably the best course of action for impressing a date would have been to rent a limo, but Val was a professor not a millionaire.

Standing outside for his taxi to arrive Val felt pretty good about himself. He smiled at each girl who walked by him on the street regardless of what they looked like. In turn he made several older ladies smile and giggle as well as two female looking prostitutes. Obviously Val didn't know they were men as he might not have been smiling at them otherwise.

Val taxi pulled up in front of him and he got in. The cab was your typical yellow car with the iconic black broken stripes on the sides. There was a glass divider between the driver and the back seat and the driver himself didn't appear to be too interested in anything but driving.

"Sailune theatre please." Val requested as he buckled himself in.

The driver made a slight mumbling noise as he pulled back into traffic. He made no attempt to make conversation he just drove ahead.

Val might have been put off about the lack of interest the cabby was in his fare but Val didn't care. He was too absorbed in what his date was going to be like.

...

Inside Gracia's dressing room Gracia or rather Naga as she preferred to go by was doing the final touches on her makeup. Even though it was supposed to be a charity event Naga did very little to hide her buxom body. She could have worn a more conservative garment for the event but instead Naga opted for something she was more known to wear.

What Naga had chosen was a long black strapless evening gown with a very long revealing slit on one side. Given the sheer volume of Naga's bosom wearing a strapless dress was a risky little gamble. The top of the dress didn't even seem large enough to cover Naga's chest properly. Her cleavage was massive. In fact the only thing keep Naga from spilling out of her dress was some carefully placed industrial strength two sided tape. Though the adhesive was strong if Naga bounced around too much it was doubtful it would be able to hold too long. Naga didn't care too much about that, as she was extremely comfortable with her body. If she had it her way she wouldn't even bother wearing anything at all.

To complete the look of the outfit Naga had donned a pair of long white satin gloves, white feather boa and a lavishly ornate diamond necklace. Naga would have loved to have worn her black high heeled stiletto pumps but instead she opted for some sleek black pointed flats. She didn't want her date to feel short after all. Plus it was better for pictures if she didn't have to slouch or kneel so she appeared to be the same height as her date. And for Naga it was all about the pictures. Naga loved to be photographed as she loved any and all attention on her. She was used to be the centre of attention.

'I hope my date is good dresser.' Naga thought to herself as she touched up her ruby red lipstick. 'I'd hate for my last accessory not to match the rest of my outfit.'

To Naga all men were just as important as a purse. If they didn't match what she was wearing they had to be ditched.

...

Sylphiel and Amelia were grateful for the food they were greeted to as they got upstairs. Neither woman realized just how hungry they were until they smelled the thai food.

"I think this the best food I've ever had!" Sylphiel exclaimed as she wolfed down several mouthfuls of pad thai.

Lina made a face. "You must be really hungry because even I don't think it's that great."

"If it's not good then why did you order it? I thought you loved thai food." Amelia wondered as she also stuffed her face.

"I love thai food just not this stuff." Lina motioned to several boxes of the Red Thai House food. "I picked them because they are cheapest. And they throw in extra spring rolls every time we order."

"That's because we order a lot." Filia clarified. "But who cares the rolls suck too."

Sylphiel and Amelia made disapproving faces as they were clearly enjoying the food.

"So what's going on after this?" Sylphiel asked in between mouthfuls.

"I think we're calling it a night." Lina decided. "All of you guys should go home and we'll let the machine pick up any calls."

"What are we going to do about Mister Zelgadis and Mister Xellos?" Amelia wondered looking at said ghostly figures.

"Lina's going to stay here to babysit them." Filia explained.

"Miss Lina you should go home and sleep!" Sylphiel chided in her usual mothering tone.

Lina rolled her eyes. "As I've already told Filia I'm too tired to go home so I may as well stay here. We can't leave Zel, Xellos and Slimer alone because Xellos is bound to do something idiotic."

"Hey!" Xellos protested. "Why do you always assume it's me that's going to cause the trouble?"

"Because since you've popped up here you've caused us nothing but problems!" Lina threw an empty carton at Xellos' head.

The carton clearly missed as it went through Xellos rather than hit him. However Xellos still pretended to be wounded by the action. "Everyone is so mean to me!" He flailed dramatically.

"Maybe someone else should stay with you too to help watch things." Amelia suggested ready to volunteer.

Right away Lina shook her head. "No. We only have the one bed and I'd much prefer that you guys all get a good night sleep for tomorrow. Each day is proving to be more and more unpredictable and I want you all to be on your a-game ready for anything. I can handle these three on my own."

"I resent being put on the same level as _him_." Zelgadis spat out while glaring at Xellos.

"I know Zel." Lina sighed. "I'm not calling you a troublemaker but if anything you'd end up being the victim. And I'd much rather you not ending up in my bedroom like last time."

Xellos ears perked up at this comment. "Really you choose to bed with her? Why the other three are much more developed looking. Do have a thing for women with small breasts?"

Right away this got the tempers of both Lina and Zelgadis flared up past their boiling points. Had Lina been able to she would have beaten the ghostly professor to a pulp. Zelgadis on the other hand was more than capable so he was literately beating Xellos to a pulp.

...

Gourry let out a grumble as he carried a box load of papers down to the filing room. It had been a long day at the station and it was going to be longer still as he had been ordered to file a bunch of casework in the file room. Gourry hated filing and hated going down to the filing room. It was in the basement and you had to go down several flights of stairs. The room though well lit still seemed dark and foreboding and cold no matter what season of the year it was. Some people claimed the basement was haunted thus the reason for the deathly chill.

Though it was a rumour few officers actually believe the basement was haunted. In fact there were only a few that believed in ghosts as it was. Gourry was a minority in the station. He not only believed in ghosts he was damned sure the station was haunted.

Even though the other officers thought Gourry was just a superstitious joke the blond officer was very right. Several ghosts hung around the basement. Most of them were ghosts who had previously haunted the old police station and decided to move in after the new station was built. These weren't poltergeists or anything so they weren't dangerous. They were for the most part just the ghosts of officers and case victims. The ghosts hung around just to see if their respective cold cases were getting solved. They knew not to get in the way of the living officers so all they ended up doing was making the basement far too cold.

As Gourry made his way to last step he was expect a wave of cool air. It was always cold in the basement even with the heat on full blast. But as he entered the file room what he found was that the room appeared normal. It wasn't exceptionally cold or warm. It just felt like the rest of the building.

'Huh. Maybe they finally got the heating system working properly.' Gourry thought to himself as he put down the files on the table.

The lack of cold should have been a tip off of something not being right for Gourry. No cold meant no ghosts. So what could have scared away the ghosts suddenly? Something much scarier than a ghost of course.

As Gourry looked through the papers he brought he was little surprised to find something else inside the box. What he found was that mysterious book from his desk. Now how did it end up in the box?

Gourry frowned as he looked at the box. "Someone must have put you in with the papers by mistake. Because it would be pretty silly for a book to be able to move itself." Gourry said the book while laughing at that thought. "If books and papers could move on their own I wouldn't have to file anything."

While Gourry worked on sorting the papers the book was laying at one of the table open with its' pages expose. The blood red writing glowed.

...

Val paid the cabby and made his way into Sailune Theatre. He realized once he had gotten to his destination that he had been told exact meeting spot for him and his date. Since no woman was waiting outside Val figured he was to pick up his date inside.

Butterflies were fluttering around in Val's stomach as he navigated around the old building. It had been a while since his last date so he just a bit nervous. But Val crushed those fluttering nerves and filled himself with positive thinking. 'You are a sexy beast and she will not be able to resist you.'

"OHOHOHOHOHO! There you are!" An almost shrilly voice called out from down the hall.

Val had winced at the offending sound when he first heard it. He had never heard such an annoying laugh before. He cringed as he looked to the source of the sound.

What Val found almost the exact vision of what his date would be standing leaning against a door in a most seductive come hither manner. However there was one discrepancy with the woman he envisioned and the one standing before him. The one he imagined wasn't as beautiful as the real Gracia. Though seductive to the point that it almost made her look cheap Naga took Val's breath away.

"You must be Gracia." Val assumed as he approached her.

Naga looked Val down like she was eyeing a piece of meat. She noticed right away that Val was not as tall as she had hoped but he did make up for it in other areas. Besides the fact that he was well dressed Val was gorgeous and appeared to have some very well defined muscles hiding in that suit of his. Yes he would make the perfect last accessory to her outfit. "OHOHOHOH! I am Gracia but you will call me Naga!"

Val frowned. "And why would I do that?"

"Because that's what all the common people call me."

The corner of one of Val's eyes twitched in irritation. "I am not a commoner. Nor are you a queen."

"OHOHOHOHOHOH! When you are this beautiful you can't be anything else but royalty." Naga stated motioning to her body.

"A royal pain in the ass maybe." Val concluded.

"Very well if you are going to an ungrateful idiot then I shall deny the privilege of you accompanying me to the charity event." Naga turned her nose up in the air as she looked down on Val.

"If anyone is going to deny anyone anything it will be me denying you the privilege of going on a date with me." Val shot back being as equally snooty.

"And why would it be a privilege to date you?"

"When you look this good," Val motioned to himself, "it's just a privilege to be seen with me."

"I do hate shopping for a last minute accessory... Very well I will allow you to take me." Naga decided sauntering over to him.

"You are not allowing me I'm letting you go with me." Val clarified while offering his arm to her. "And are you calling me an accessory?"

"Oh yes and a delicious one at that!" Naga giggled as she felt how big and muscular his arm was.

Val wanted to growl at her in anger but he did quite like the idea of being called delicious.

_(Author's Notes: There I go again with the Naga/Val... I swear they have become my newest favourite alternative couple. I know, I'm weird but the two together is just so darned fun. I have to write an exclusive Naga/Val story one of these days...)_


	38. Chapter 38

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-eight

By Relm

Getting Amelia, Sylphiel and Filia to leave had been hard for Lina. Since all the crazy things that had been happening the three Ghost Slayers were loathe to leave their boss alone.

True Lina wouldn't really be alone as Slimer, Xellos and Zelgadis would be there as well but that didn't help matters. The ghostly trio could only do so much when dealing with certain dangers. But never the less Lina said she was okay on her own and she mean it. That left the remaining Ghost Slayers parting ways.

Usually it was Amelia or Sylphiel who choose to leave last but strangely not this time. Though originally fine with the arrangement Filia was feeling very apprehensive about leaving. She claimed it was because she was afraid of what Xellos would do, but that wasn't the case. Filia had always thought she hated Xellos and she was rightfully so in assuming that. Xellos was a pain in the ass. In recent light Filia though still easily annoyed with Xellos she couldn't help but feel a little protective over him. It bothered her that he was in this state of in between. It was one thing to see it happen to a stranger but another if it was something you knew.

Xellos pretended not to care or that he found the experience interesting even but Filia didn't think that was the case. She worried about him. Not that she would ever admit that in a million years.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Filia asked for like the millionth time.

"Yes Filia I'll be fine." Lina insisted.

"You call me if there's a problem." It was more of an order than a question.

"Yes Filia. Go home and get some rest I'll see you in the morning."

Letting out a sight Filia hesitantly got into her car. What she didn't know was that she wasn't the only in her car.

...

To say Val was used to being the centre of attention was an understatement. All through his life he was used to having the attention on him. But it was never good attention. Val had been a trouble maker and a bad boy in school. He wasn't the prom king, class president, football captain or even boyfriend material. He was the guy drinking under the bleachers or vandalizing cars. Sure he had been a tough guy but he had also been very academic too. It was a strange combination. If he had been less of a trouble maker he probably would have been praised by his teachers.

Walking into that charity function Val was the center of a different kind of attention. People looked and stared. Some looked jealous while others flashed flirty smiles and winks. He felt very important at that moment even if it was as one of Naga's glorified accessories.

"How did she manage to score a guy that handsome?" Martina, one of the actresses at the party sneered glaring at Naga. "She's the most annoying woman in the world!"

"She can't be that bad." Officer Zangulus Zoanna said to his wife. "Kinda looks familiar though." Zangulus mused as he looked at Val.

"I'll bet you've busted him for prostitution! He must be a gigolo. That's the only way she could get a date that good looking." Martina insisted.

"'That good looking'?" Zangulus repeated. "And what exactly am I then?"

"Absolutely perfect." Martina purred at him. "Now let's go find out the gigolo's name." Martina dragged Zangulus with her over to Naga and her date.

Naga laughed as she clung onto her date's very muscled arm. Several people were taking photos and she and Val posed for each one of them. Even though Val was not quite as tall as she wanted he was still a very good compliment to her outfit. 'I'll have to remember to thank Amelia later. She has done me well! OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!' Naga thought to herself. Yes in even in her own thoughts Naga still laughed that annoying laugh.

"So who do we have here with our lead actress?" Martina exclaimed sourly as she and Zangulus approached Naga and Val.

"OHOHOHOHOH! Well if isn't my little understudy... what was your name again?" Naga smiled ever so sweetly.

"Martina. Martina Zoanna." Martina answered her voice ripe with agitation and anger. 'How dare she forget my name!'

"Right Martina! Who is you date?" Naga batted her eyelashes at Zangulus flirtatiously enticing a jealous filled glare from Val.

"Hello ma'am, I'm Officer Zangulus Zoanna. I'm Martina's husband." Zangulus offered his hand to shake Naga's.

Naga took Zangulus' hand with a playful smile dancing across her lips. "A cop? Wow! Beautiful and has the licence to carry a gun! How dangerous."

Val cleared his throat as if to remind his date that he was also present. "I'm Valgaav Ul Copt." Val offered his hand to Zangulus and Martina to shake. "I'm Naga's _date.__"_ He emphasised the word 'date' in annoyance.

"Right now silly of me. Was my yummy little accessory feeling left out an ignored?" Naga petting Val on the arm affectionately.

"I am not an accessory." Val reminded her.

"But you are yummy." Naga purred.

"Yes I am." Val beamed happily. He was very obviously amused by the littlest of things.

"Ul Copt... I know I've heard that name before." Zangulus mused. "Yes now I remember! That's Filia's last name. She works for Ghost Slayers with my partner's dream girl Sylphiel."

"Filia is my step sister." Val admitted grudgingly. "We used to work together at the University before she went to work for Ghost Slayers."

"What do you do in the University?" Zangulus prompted him.

"I'm an English Literature Professor."

"No way!" Martina exclaimed while gasping. "And you came here of your own free will, with her?"

Naga glared at Martina. "I don't think I like your tone little understudy."

"It's Martina you big chested bimbo." Martina matched her glare.

"And that's my cue to take my wife away. Nice meeting you." Zangulus quickly dragged his wife Martina away.

"OHOHOHOHOHOH! She is a silly little girl." Naga sighed. "Do you know how to dance? Or are your looks all you've got?"

Val glared at her. What an infuriating woman! There she was supposed to be his date and she just finished flirting with another woman's husband. And now she was insulting him. "I'll have you know I can dance better than any of the sad men here." He nearly growled at her.

Naga couldn't help but smile. Something about that throaty angriness in Val's voice was a real turn on for Naga. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Good! Because that will make the pictures look that much better." With no further explanation Naga grabbed Val and dragged him to the dance floor.

Val had half a mind to leave Naga on the dance floor but it was kinda hard to leave a lady wanting to dance especially when she was currently grabbing your ass. "Excuse me who said you could handle the merchandise?" He protested though he wasn't at all offended by the action. He was enjoying being treated like a piece of meat.

"OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed but didn't answer.

God did Val find that laughter annoying. But for some strange reason it was starting to grow on him.

...

Since there was only one bed in Ghost Slayers HQ and Lina was going to be using it they were going to have to think of a different sleeping arrangement for Zelgadis. The ghostly librarian insisted that he could just sleep in a chair but Lina wouldn't have anything of it.

"So what are you going to do?" Zelgadis wondered out loud. "You're not going to suggest... sharing the bed are you?" His face was red at the suggestion even though he was the one suggesting it.

Lina's eyes went as wide as her face was red. "No!" She was quick to snap. "I and I alone am going to use that bed. Sorry but even though your condition is sad I'm not going to be deprived of my beauty sleep."

Zelgadis blush faded and was replaced with sheepishness. "Fair enough but what do you want me to do? Should I sleep in the office?"

Lina shook her head almost violently. "Oh no you're going to sleep here in this room with me. If you're going to end up popping up next to me if you get scared you may as well be close to start off with." She rationalized.

"I thought you didn't want me to sleep in the chair?" Zelgadis asked in confusion.

Lina didn't answer but instead gathered up all the discarded sleeping bags from her co-workers. "I'm going to put these all together and create a sort of bed for you on the floor. It's not going to be the best thing in the world but it will be much better than trying to sleep sitting in that chair."

"What about that fruitcake? Where is he going to sleep?"

"Quite frankly I don't care. As long as he doesn't cause any trouble he can sleep wherever he wants."

Zelgadis shrugged. He couldn't argue with that.

...

Filia hummed to herself as she relaxed at her home. The first thing she did once she parked her car and went inside was shrug out of her work uniform and head straight to the shower. After dealing with a day filled of disgusting ghostly antics Filia was in dire need of freshening herself up. Since she lived alone she got out of her clothes on the way to the bathroom not caring where the articles landed. She would pick them up later but for now all she wanted was to get naked and hop into the hot steamy water.

If Filia did have a roommate they might have been surprised by the Ghost Slayer's sudden nakedness but there wasn't one to be shocked. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else in Filia's home besides her at that moment. But what Filia didn't know was that she brought home a little hitchhiker from work.

All Xellos could do was watch in wonder as the blond goddess he lived to torment unknowingly stripped in front of him. If this were the old Xellos who had all his memories he would have stopped her before she got to her last articles of clothing. He would have made his presence known and received a barrage of attacks and insults for his peeping. Because when it all came down to it Xellos wasn't a peeping tom. Sure he would have loved to see Filia naked but he wouldn't injure her pride or modesty that way. He may be an annoying man but he was as much of a gentlemen that a pervert could be.

But this wasn't normal Xellos. He didn't have all his memories at his arsenal to use in such situations. The sentimental attachments he had were scrubbed from his mind leaving on the basic more primal urges exposed. He knew he was attracted to her but beyond that he knew little of why he was drawn to Filia.

So as Filia stripped Xellos' mouth was shut and his eyes wide. Very wide. Xellos felt his heart thumping wildly in his chest even though it was doubtful he had one in his current ghostly form. His eyes followed Filia's every movement as if she had spun a spell over him. It only ended when Filia slammed the bathroom door shut once she was inside. Then and only then could Xellos regain his focus.

"My that was... interesting." Xellos mused to himself. He looked to the closed door and thought about how pointless such a barrier was. He could go through it and all that would be separating him from his Filia would be a simple shower curtain.

_His Filia._

Xellos mind was murky with memories too blurry to comprehend but in the depths of it he took ownership of the blond Ghost Slayer.

Suddenly Xellos was feeling regretful. Deep down he was aware he was supposed to stop her. That he was supposed to tell her he was there. He didn't know why this was the case but he knew it was.

No Xellos was going to stay where he was and not go through that door. He just wouldn't tell her that he saw her naked. He'll just pretend he just arrived. Yeah that's what he'll do. And he'll find some way to get her going.

Even with that decided in Xellos' head he still looked at that bathroom door longingly.

...

Sylphiel had been eating popcorn when it happened. Since she had eaten not too long ago she didn't want to eat something so heavy so close to bedtime so she opted for a snack. The plan was to pop up some popcorn in the microwave and relax on the couch watching TV or reading a book. Or perhaps there was a good movie on and she could watch that. Either way Sylphiel's mind was far away from anything related to ghostly things.

But as the popcorn finished popping and it was put into a bowl there wasn't a whole lot of relaxing on the couch. The moment Sylphiel sat down to turn the TV on she saw something in the screen's reflection that made her jump and scream in fright.

There staring back at her in the reflection was a man.


	39. Chapter 39

_Author's Notes: Can someone tell me what the deal with italics here on fanfiction . net? Everything has been working fine for years and now all of a sudden half the things I type with italics have all the spaces removed! Is anyone else having this issue? Anyhoo I had to fix all the italics but if I missed a few I'm sorry._

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Thirty-Nine

By Relm

If it had been any other person screaming in the apartment complex the neighbours might have been concerned. But since it was Sylphiel that was screaming no one even bothered to bat an eye. It wasn't uncommon for the raven haired Ghost Slayer to accidently bring her work home with her. This usually happened once a week. So this wasn't a surprise to hear the screams from Sylphiel's apartment suite. However this did little to comfort the frightened tenant.

Sylphiel never expected ghosts to randomly show up at her place like that. It didn't matter how many times it happened Sylphiel was blindsided each time. She wasn't like Lina she didn't adapt to these things too well. Makes one wonder why Sylphiel ever got into this line of work in the first place.

Sitting right there on her couch staring at the TV screen Sylphiel screamed in a panic. She didn't take the time to analyze what she was seeing. She just saw the form of a man and screamed. The figure behind Sylphiel didn't seem to be affected by the loud noise. He just stood there staring and then suddenly went to sit at Sylphiel's table.

With her mind clearing a bit and her nerves starting to settle Sylphiel managed to pull herself together enough to look behind her at her intruder. Two things jumped out at Sylphiel right away. One of those was that the man was transparent. He clearly wasn't a burglar. The other thing that Sylphiel noticed was that man was wearing a police uniform. Now that wasn't too uncommon for Sylphiel. The Ghost Slayers HQ had been a police station back in the day so having a ghostly cop or two follow you around wasn't too out of the norm. Except it had been a very long time since Sylphiel had seen a ghost cop. Not since they had done a good job of clearing out the ghostly figures out of HQ had Sylphiel seen one. And furthermore this ghost cop was wearing a reasonably new uniform. This was a new ghost.

Now Sylphiel was more puzzled than scared. Especially when she noticed the ghost in question had very long blond hair tied back into a pony tail.

"Gourry?" Sylphiel whispered as she got up from the couch to look.

The 'ghost' failed to react to the sound of Sylphiel's voice. He just continued working on papers that had magically appeared on Sylphiel's table.

Standing before the intruder at her table Sylphiel could say without a shadow of a doubt that this was in fact Officer Gourry Gaberieve.

…

Lina was almost completely settled in her bed ready to sleep. Zelgadis himself was getting himself comfortable on the floor while Slimer was already sleeping in his bucket in the very same room as Lina and Zelgadis. The three of them were prepared for a restful night with no interruptions but that quickly changed with the sound of Lina's cell phone. It was sitting the night stand both ringing and buzzing away. It danced around the table noisily as it to further announce the call.

Grumbling Lina reached for the offending item. 'Why didn't I turn it off or put it on silent?' She mentally chided herself. With a quick spy of the screen Lina saw it was Sylphiel calling. "I know you're calling to check up on me, but I can assure you I'm fine mother Sylphiel." Lina grumbled into her phone rather than answer it properly.

"_Miss __Lina?__"_ Sylphiel spoke in the phone. She sounded very far away and absent.

"Yes Sylphiel? What's wrong?"

There was a slight pause on Sylphiel's end before the raven haired Ghost Slayer answered. _"__Something__'__s __wrong__…" _She still had that vacant sound to her voice.

If Lina hadn't been up and alert before she was now. "Seriously Sylphiel what's wrong? Are you okay? Did something happen to you?"

Zelgadis who had been mildly annoyed by the phone call and trying to sleep was now sitting upright and alert from the sharp change of Lina's voice.

"…_I __think __it __happened __again.__" _Sylphiel answered rather cryptically.

"What happened again? Goddamnit Sylphiel just spit it out!" Lina almost yelled into the phone.

"_The book… I think it attacked again. Either that or Gourry is dead and haunting my apartment." _

"Oh dear lord…" Lina moaned. "What's he doing?"

"_Sitting at my table working on some papers. It looks like paperwork. And he's wearing his uniform."_

"Meaning if it was the book it attacked him while he was at work or just leaving from it." Lina mused.

Now Zelgadis' eyes were wide. It was clear to him someone else now was dealing the very same problem he was.

"_That__'__s __what __I__'__m __hoping__… __because __otherwise __he__'__s__…__.__he__'__s__…__.__" _Sylphiel's voice trailed off.

"Alright Sylphiel let's not think that way till we get all the facts. Do you still have that little scanner of yours?" Lina prompted the raven haired girl. Since the ghosts always seemed to love Sylphiel Lina had gotten Filia to get a little ghost scanner for Sylphiel to have for her home.

"_Yeah… I think it's in the bathroom."_

"Why is it in the bathroom?"

"_Because most of the ghosts are perverts."_

"Good point. Go get the scanner, I'll wait." Lina put her hand over the speaker and looked to Zelgadis who was already looking at her with curiosity. "Another possible book attack. Sylphiel's cop friend who is in love with her. He's popped up in her home. Sylphiel is kinda freaking out."

Zelgadis nodded in understanding. "I would be too. But then I don't deal with this kind of stuff for a living. "

"Still it's unsettling when it's someone you know."

"_Miss__Lina?__" _Sylphiel called out picking her phone back up.

"Yeah I'm still here. What's it saying?"

"_The scanner isn't picking up and ghostly activities. Gourry is giving off thermal readings." _

"Good then he's not a ghost. Just another unfortunate victim."

"_What am I going to do? Take him back to Ghost Slayers HQ with me right now?"_

"No, go to bed and get some sleep. I'll come by in the morning with a gun and we'll zap him then. If he's like Zel and Xellos he'll be stuck in a loop and not able to follow you around. So there will be no point trying to coax him into a car." Lina explained.

"_So __you__'__re __saying __he __has __to __stay __with __me __in __my __apartment?__" _Sylphiel's voice squeaked through the phone.

"Yes. It's not like he's not going to do anything." Lina reminded her.

"_I know but… he's a boy… and it's my apartment…"_

Lina had to roll her eyes at this comment. "Come on Sylphiel don't be such a prude! You slept last night just fine with a guy in the room. Why is it so bad if it's Gourry? Is because he likes you or because you like him and you don't think you can trust yourself? That's not really going to matter anyway. You can't touch each other."

"_Miss __Lina __it__'__s __nothing __like __that!__" _Sylphiel insisted. Even though Lina couldn't see Sylphiel she could hear it in the raven haired woman's voice, Sylphiel was blushing.

"If it really bothers you that much then go over to Amelia's or call her over. Gourry isn't going to be aware of your presence either way anyway. I'd just prefer you to stay at your home just in case Gourry does wander off."

"_Okay Miss Lina. I'm sorry I disturbed you from your sleep."_

"That's what you get for being the boss. Random phone calls at all hours of the night. Get some sleep, that's an order."

"_Yes Miss Lina. Goodnight."_

"Goodnight Sylphiel."

"Is she going to be okay?" Zelgadis asked once Lina got off the phone.

"Yeah she should be. But we're going to have to make a trip there tomorrow." Lina mumbled as she went to settle back into her bed.

Zelgadis shrugged and did the same.

Slimer whom had been still sleeping the whole time blew a snot bubble.

…

Filia had no idea while she was in her shower that there was something amiss. On the drive home she found out just how tired she was and it took all her concentration to drive and not fall asleep. Had she not been so drowsy she would have noticed for sure that she hadn't been alone in the car on that drive home.

Showering when one was tired tended to have one of two effects on a person. Either it woke you up making you feel invigorated or it just added to your sleepiness making you more than ready to crash. For Filia in this case it had the latter effect and she could barely keep her eyes open as she emerged from the bathroom clad in just a towel.

Ordinarily when taking a shower Filia would have gotten her clothing ready before going into the bathroom. But this particular evening feeling as tired as she was Filia decided to be lazy. Who cares if she was wearing just a towel? It was her home after all and she lived alone.

So walking out of the bathroom Filia didn't care that she was clad in just a towel. All she wanted to do was get to her room, dressed and to bed. She had no idea someone was going to be waiting for her outside the door. That being said she ended up not having to worry about the potential pervert in the hall. He wasn't there. So Filia had no idea she wasn't alone in her apartment.

Until she got to her bedroom.

Laying outstretched on Filia's bed was Xellos looking ever so sexy ready for action.

Seeing such a sight Filia did the only thing she could think of doing. She screamed. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She was so surprised that she forgot that she was wearing just a towel. As such during her screaming she forgot to hold onto her only article of clothing and it fell to the ground.

Xellos whom hadn't intended to peek again had his eyes go wide as he got to see Filia's full frontal nudity. "Wow."

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Filia screamed grabbing the towel again to cover herself.

Xellos decided to oblige and ran the hell out of the room. He heard the sounds of random items hitting the door behind him as he went through it.

Within a few moments a very red faced and embarrassed Filia stomped out of her room dressed in simple pyjamas. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Oh come on darling you weren't really going to make me stay at that awful old building alone were you?" Xellos' voice was a sugary as molasses.

"I AM NOT YOUR DARLING! And you wouldn't have been alone; Lina, Zelgadis and Slimer are there!" Filia screamed at him.

"But you wouldn't be. And if you're not there it doesn't count."

Filia wanted to get so mad at Xellos but she couldn't help but feel just a twinge of flattery at that obviously false statement. "I DON'T CARE! GO BACK TO GHOST SLAYERS HQ!" She ordered him.

"Oh I can't do that." Xellos stated rather plainly.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't have any idea how to get back."

Filia wanted to scream and break something. "How the hell did you end up here?"

"I hitched a ride in your backseat." He explained smiling ever so smugly.

"You were in my car?"

Xellos nodded.

"So you've been here this whole time?"

Again Xellos nodded.

This omission brought on a very disturbing thought to Filia. "Then… you were here… while I was… undressing?"

Xellos nodded before even thinking about what Filia asked. And after he did it he realized what a poor idea that was.

"YOU…. ANIMAL!" Filia screamed and started throwing random things at Xellos.

"I only saw the back of you!" Xellos exclaimed. "It was you that flashed your front to me!"

This didn't help matters. It just made Filia angrier.

…

Since hearing about Gourry, Lina was having trouble getting herself back into a proper state of mind to sleep. But after a little bit of talking with Zelgadis, Lina managed to get herself ready to get back to trying to sleep.

Lina was just on the cusp of falling asleep when her phone rang again.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Lina growled.

"Lina why didn't you put that on silent or turn it off?" Zelgadis exclaimed also annoyed.

"Because I'm stupid!" Lina groaned. She picked up the phone and went to answer it without even looking to see who it was. "WHAT?"

"_That__'__s __how __I __feel!__" _Filia growled on the other line.

"Filia? I'm trying to sleep! Why are you calling for?"

"_Why the hell aren't you keeping an eye on that evil scum for?"_

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"_Xellos! He's here!" _

"Now why the hell is he there for? Did something scare him?"

"_No! __The __raw __garbage __hitched __a __damned __ride __in __my __car.__And __peeked __on __me __while __I __was __changing! __He __saw __me __completely __naked!__" _Filia screeched.

Lina just rolled her eyes. "So?"

"_He saw me naked Lina, N-A-K-E-D!" _

"Didn't you two fool around in the utility closet during that one Christmas party years ago at the University?"

"_We __most __certainly __did __not!__" _Filia denied it.

"No I'm sure you did. You were really drunk-"

"_I DON'T CARE!"_

"So why are you calling me for?"

"_Someone __needs __to __get __Xellos__' __perverted __ghostly __butt __out __of __my __apartment!__" _Filia screeched.

Lina groaned. "No. Unless you're going to drive him back yourself then we're all going to get some sleep. You can bring him back here in the morning."

"_But Lina-"_

"Bye Filia!" Lina hung up her phone before Filia could say anymore.

"Xellos is terrorizing Filia?" Zelgadis prompted Lina once she hung up here phone.

"Yup." Lina answered while nodding.

"That sucks. Say Lina…"

"Yes Zel?"

"Turn off your phone."

"Yes sir." Lina did as she was instructed and flopped back on her bed. "Goodnight Zel."

"Goodnight Lina."

Yes the two of them just didn't give a damn anymore. Sleep was more important.


	40. Chapter 40

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty

By Relm

Lina let out a huge yawn as she woke up that morning. She hadn't set an alarm to wake her at a specific time but her stomach had its own clock. It wasn't just morning it was breakfast time so up she had to get. She spied a look around the room and was amused to see her ghostly companions still asleep in their respected make shift beds. It was surprising to see that she had woken up before them. It was rare that Lina woke early without an alarm. She did so love to sleep in. Since the room had no windows Lina wasn't even sure what time it was but because her stomach woke her she assumed it had to be morning.

Against Lina's better judgement she turned back on her phone. Since her phone had been turned it off it wasn't going to show how many missed calls she had but it did show how many voice mails and text messages she had. And it was a lot. This however wasn't the first thing to grab her attention when she looked at her phone. It was the clock in the corner of the screen that made Lina's eyes go wide. It was morning alright but not what Lina thought. It was a little after 5 in the morning, this was much earlier than her stomach normally woke her. 'Stupid cheap thai food... no wonder I'm hungry...'

Being as quiet as a mouse Lina tip toed out of the room and headed to the staff lounge room. Lina wasn't exactly in the mood to cook something but at the very least she could have cereal or something. Opening the fridge Lina made a face. It was bright and clean... and empty. Lina didn't need to ponder this fact too hard, she knew why there was no food. And it had to do with a little green man.

The cupboards proved to be just as bare. If Lina was going to eat she would have to leave the building.

This sort of this usually didn't bother Lina too much. She loved to eat out, especially when the meal was a nice hearty breakfast. But given their cash flow it wasn't a good idea to be dining out so much. That is something they had been doing a lot off as of late.

Sighing Lina left the lounge to get dressed and go get breakfast. She didn't bother to wake up Zelgadis or Slimer to let them know where she was going, instead she just left a note on the bed. The last thing Lina wanted to do was to give reason for Zelgadis to get upset or worried. It would be very annoying to have the ghostly librarian pop up in fright when Lina was in a restaurant.

'I'll just get take out and brining it right back to Ghost Slayers HQ. I really shouldn't leave those two alone for too long.' Lina thought to herself as she put her coat on and stepped outside the front doors.

Lina could have drove but she didn't feel much like driving after the tiring day she had previously. And there were several little dinners nearby she could get something to eat. However once Lina got out those doors she somewhat regretted that decision.

The weather had been pretty mild the past week with just a few light storms here and there but this particular morning was an exception. The sky was blanketed in a sea of dark gray and black clouds and city was a haze of constant falling droplets of water. It was raining and it was raining loudly. Though no lightening flashed or thunder sounded it still seemed frightful outside.

The streets were covered in big puddles and the sound of the rain splashing down was almost deafening. A gust of wind breezed by Lina making her shiver.

Lina's gut said go back inside. It was cold and wet and Lina didn't like cold and wet. Lina was from Zelphilia, a warm sunny country. Even when it rained it was never this cold. But Lina's stomach was at war with her gut (strange, aren't they the same thing?) demanding they press on. Food was needed and it wasn't that far away, just a few blocks.

Spying a look at her footwear Lina wondered if her boots would work in this kind of weather. They weren't her usual uniform boots as she was wearing her normal clothing, but zip up fashion type boots. They looked like they were leather and would repel the rain. The logical side of Lina said to at very least change into proper rain boots but again her stomach ruled all. She did snatch an umbrella however and pressed on.

The first block Lina felt confident. Her boots appeared to be doing okay, perhaps they would be fine in the rain. The second block however came as a shock and coldness settled in amongst her tender tootsies. 'Stupid boots! Why are fashionable things so damned useless?'

Knowing this wasn't going to end well for her Lina sped up and raced towards the first open diner she could see.

"Good morning!" A waitress with brown curly hair beamed at Lina. "I didn't think we'd get any customers this early and especially not with this weather!"

"Yeah sure..." Lina grumbled as she sat down at a stool looking over a menu.

"Dining in, or taking out?" The waitress wondered.

"Take out." Lina said without even looking up from the menu.

"Will you be wanting some coffee dear?" It was clear that the waitress was bored and was trying to coax Lina into having a conversation with her.

Lina however wasn't in the mood. "Yeah I guess."

"How do you take it?"

"Black with three sugars."

The waitress flashed Lina a defeated smile. "Alright I'll get your coffee ready while you decide."

"I already know what I want. I want four of your breakfast specials all with scrambled eggs and wheat toast, and an order each of pancakes and waffles."

The waitress flinched at the large order. "Are you getting breakfast for a family?"

"Nah, just me."

Well it didn't matter if Lina didn't want to chit chat with the waitress, the waitress was going to have to help the cook with that order. "Alright I'll be right back."

While Lina waited for the waitress to come back with her order she decided to go over her messages on her phone. Deciding to go with the voice mail first Lina clicked on the oldest one. It was one from Sylphiel.

"_Miss Lina I'm sorry I'm calling again. You've probably turned your phone off but I wanted to let you know that I called Amelia and she's going to come over. I'm not afraid of Gourry doing anything but... I'm scared. What if we can't change him back? He, Mister Zelgadis and Mister Xellos could be stuck that way forever! I know I could well I mean if we shock him I could still talk to him... but it's not the same... I never told him that I... oh why am I telling this to your voice mail for? I'm sorry goodnight Miss Lina." _

Hearing that message made Lina frown. She knew that Sylphiel had been upset when she had talked to her but Lina had assumed that was just from shock. But now she realized it was more than just that. Sylphiel was genuinely upset. 'I should have gone over there last night... Oh well not that it matters now. And Amelia went over there so I'm sure she made Sylphiel feel better.'

The next voice mail appeared to be from Amelia.

"_Miss Lina I know you're probably asleep but I wanted to let you know I'm going over to Miss Sylphiel's place. She called me and told me what happened. Poor Mister Gourry! Of all the nice people this could happen to why him? And poor Miss Sylphiel! She's so upset Miss Lina. But don't you worry I'll do my best to keep her spirits high! You can count on me a champion of truth and justice to see to our friend in her time of need!" _

Hearing that message did make Lina feel a bit better. At the very least Amelia would have been annoying enough to distract Sylphiel. But it was very unlikely that the two of them will have gotten much sleep.

There was three more messages and they were all from Filia. Lina had a fair idea of what sort of messages they were and it made her chuckle just thinking about it.

"_I can't believe you just cut me off like that! And now you're not answering my calls! You're supposed to be the boss and what do you do? Leave me high and dry with a perverted creep! Lina I swear I'll make you pay for this in the morning! Gah!" _

It was clear that that message was right after Lina had turned off her phone. The next message's time stamp was from almost an hour later.

"_Lina he won't get out of my bed! He crawled into there when I was yelling at your voice mail and now he won't leave! I've tried yelling at him and throwing things but the bastard just lays were with that damned smug smile of his! I can't move him and I'm sure as hell not going to sleep in the same bed as him! But it's my room! My bed! This is not fair that I'll have to sleep on the couch! GRRRRRRRR!"_

That was the conclusion of the second message. The time stamp of the last one was from two and half hours later. It made Lina wonder if Filia slept at all.

"_Alright clearly you're not going to answer your phone tonight. I get that. You're tired and need sleep. I do too. But I have to vent and even if it's to your damned machine then so be it! I busted some old gadgets of mine and made a makeshift zapper. Not the kind we use on ghosts but a nasty little thing that zaps you. I used it on Xellos and kicked him out of bed and out of my room. It felt so good to hit him Lina. Sooooo good! But then the bugger came back! I swear he loves being tortured. I zapped him and beat him four times but the zapper backfired on me... I'm okay but my hair is a mess! Lina it's all poufy and won't go back down! I give up I'm going to sleep on the couch..." _

Lina knew she shouldn't laugh at Filia's misfortune but she couldn't help it. It was just too funny. She quickly toggled through the text messages and noted it all was from Filia and it was mostly profanities. One of them was a picture of Filia's hair and Lina roared with laughter. Filia looked like a blond poodle!

"Here's your order." The waitress plopped down the two bags that contained Lina's breakfast and her cup of coffee. "And here's your bill."

Lina took the little slip of paper with apprehension. Even though she cut back the amount she would usually order it was still going to be a big bill. Especially when she didn't even look at the price of the things she was ordering. Still when she looked at the paper the numbers on it must have been a lie! "Is this really how much this is?"

"Well we give a discount to people who order between 3 and 6 am." The waitress explained.

"Why?" Lina wondered as she pulled out her wallet.

"Because that's when it's the slowest."

"If I'm ever up this early again I'm coming back for sure!" Lina declared as she left.

Walking outside with the rain still beating down created a problem for Lina. She had two bags, an umbrella, a cup of coffee and only two hands. 'Crap.'

...

When Zelgadis woke up and found Lina's bed empty at first he panicked. He felt like there was a weight on his chest and the air was as thick as molasses. He didn't know why he was so nervous and agitated. He'd been away from Lina before and he wasn't alone, Slimer was with him. So why was he so frightened?

It was then that Zelgadis saw the note on the bed. _'Gone to get breakfast. I'll be back. – Lina'_ A wave of relief washed over Zelgadis as he picked up the note. Of course she was just getting food. There was nothing to be worried about, Lina was fine. So why did he feel that way.

'Must be leftover anxiety from a bad dream.' Zelgadis concluded writing his jitters off. However Zelgadis couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about. And he also didn't remember waking up with a start either.

Slimer floated up from his bucket and let out a disgusting yawn/belch. It was so loud that it almost startled Zelgadis. It made the ghostly librarian drop the piece of paper in his hands.

"You're awake too huh?" Zelgadis exclaimed laughing nervously. His heart was still beating a little wildly. He looked back down to floor and realized he had been holding something again without thinking. It didn't quell his frazzled nerves especially given how loudly Slimer announced his wakefulness. But it was interesting. "How about we go to the lounge and wait for Lina?"

Slimer nodded his head enthusiastically before flying through a wall leaving Zelgadis alone in the room.

Zelgadis suddenly had that panicked feeling again so he raced after Slimer. In doing so he came across a very wet Lina trudging through the halls. "Lina you're back!"

"And you're awake already?"

"I guess I'm an early riser." Zelgadis shrugged his shoulders. "You look a drowned rat."

Lina glared at him. "Well it's raining out."

"And you decided to go out in those boots? They don't look like they'll be good for the rain." Zelgadis commented while eying Lina's choice of footwear.

"They're not okay! My feet are cold and soaking wet." Lina grumbled as she walked pasted him towards the lounge.

Slimer sat there waiting holding a knife and fork looking ever so eager.

"Oh no you're not getting any of this!" Lina growled. "You already cleared this place off food and you're a ghost for crying out loud! Ghosts do not need to eat!"

Slimer just nodded his head enthusiastically clearly not understanding what the head Ghost Slayer was saying. Otherwise he would have put down the cutlery still in his hands.

Lina just shook her head and sat herself down.

...

"Hey Carl is this the last of it?" A man named Ben said to his co-worker as they unpacked the new props for the play at Sailune Theatre.

"Yeah, all the stuff in that box should be the rest." Carl nodded as they put the items in their place on the stage.

"Hey this book looks really weird." Ben mumbled as he picked up a strange book from the very bottom of the box. "The writing looks like gibberish and the ink is red."

Carl just shrugged. "The lead role is some bookish type broad. The art people must have just whipped something up that looked like it was old and real. It's not like Naga supposed to actually read from it."

Ben let out a laugh. "Yeah like she needs to read when she looks like that! But still why's the writing red for? Ain't most books supposed to be written in black ink?"

"Probably made it red so it will stand out on stage. Make it look like a real book and not just a fake prop."

"Still did they need to make it so creepy looking?"

Carl frowned. "What are you talking about? Looks just like a plain old book."

"No man it's creepy. I'm getting the willies just holding it."

Carl shook his head. "You're one superstitious dude. Just put the book down and let's go. My head still hurts from all the drinking at the party last night."

As Carl and Ben left the otherwise empty theatre the red ink of the book glowed.


	41. Chapter 41

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-one 

By Relm

Sylphiel sat her kitchen table with a foreboding look of dread on her face. She had been sitting at the table for quite some time. Sleep had eluded her for most of the night and eventually she had given up and decided to sit at the table as she waited for morning.

Amelia was sleeping soundly in Sylphiel's room despite the blond haired ghostly like police detective walking around the apartment. It made Sylphiel wonder if Amelia could sleep in any situation.

Letting out a yawn Sylphiel took another sip of her coffee as she sat and watched. What she was watching was the seemingly ghostly form of Gourry Gaberieve, police detective and a man whom had been crushing on her for years. It was so strange to see Gourry like that. It reminded Sylphiel off all those ghosts she and the others previously 'slayed'. They weren't the people used to be, just shells of their former selves unable to pass on. But that wasn't what she had here. Gourry wasn't dead (or least that what Sylphiel hoped) but he wasn't all there either. She could see him but as far as he was concerned Sylphiel didn't exist.

What existed to Gourry was the paperwork he was working on. It didn't matter how much Gourry finished more just seemed to keep on piling up. Clearly Gourry's last day as a normal living person hadn't been an exciting one.

"Gourry... I'm sorry... All that time you were... and I... and now I may never..." Sylphiel's eyes watered with the tears threatening to fall. It was stupid for Sylphiel to even try to talk to Gourry like that, he couldn't understand her. Hell Gourry didn't even know she was there for crying out loud! But still Sylphiel felt compelled to try and reach him. She couldn't of course and all it did was make her feel more upset.

Gourry whom completely ignored Sylphiel and everything around him just looked over another batch of papers. He frowned looking very much confused by what he was looking at. Every so often he'd look up and appear to be talking to someone. He'd make a few more faces before going back to the papers.

Sylphiel wiped her eyes and took another sip of coffee. There wasn't much good for her to go and cry again, she had done enough of that that night.

_RING RING! _Sylphiel's cell phone rang breaking Sylphiel from her thoughts.

Sylphiel went to grab her cell expecting to see that it was Lina calling. However it wasn't and Sylphiel didn't recognize the phone number. "Hello?"

"_Hello Miss Sylphiel sorry to bug you at such an early hour but I need to talk to you." _Sylphiel heard the voice of Gourry's partner Zangulus at the other end of the line.

"Hello Officer Zoanna. What can I do for you?"

"_Please Miss Sylphiel call me Zangulus. We've known each other for long enough that you needn't be so formal with me." _

"Alright then Mister Zangulus, what's the problem?"

"_I'm not quite sure what sort of relationship you have with Gourry. I know he cares about you but I don't know if you're more than friends... But I need to know, have you seen him? He seems to have gone missing."_

"Missing?" Sylphiel repeated as she nervously looked at Gourry sitting across from her.

"_Yes. He was working late last night and the last time he was seen he was heading down to the case file room. However no one saw him come back up. What's stranger is that Gourry's left the cases he was supposed to be filing on the table down there."_

Sylphiel felt her heart beating wildly in her chest. She knew she had to say something as Zangulus and Gourry do work together after all. He was going to notice something wasn't right when Gourry wasn't going to show up for the next couple days. But the problem was what to tell him? A lie or the truth? "And you have no idea where he went?"

"_Where he went or how he got there... there's only one way to leave that file room, and that's up the stairs and through the door. Unless he somehow slipped out with no one looking then he's turned into Harry Houdini. I'm going to get the security tapes to see if I can see what happened." _

Right away that concerned Sylphiel. If there were cameras then Zangulus was sure to see what happened to Gourry. There was no point in lying about it. "Mister Zangulus... I think I know what happened to Gourry..."

"_You do? What? Where is he?"_

"Sitting at my kitchen table..."

"_He's wh-WHAT? What's going on?"_

"Remember that case we were investigating at the library? You know Zelgadis Greywars?"

"_A ghost but not a ghost, yeah sure I do."_

"As much as we can figure it's one of the books. It's attacking people by taking their bodies and leaving their spirit essence behind. And after it attacks the book disappears. Besides Mister Zelgadis the book has also attacked Mister Xellos, a professor at the university that we used to work with."

"_So you're saying Gourry got attacked by this book? How can you be sure?"_

"For one thing I can see right through him meaning he's not solid. And I scanned him and he's not giving off the normal energy readings a ghost would. Plus he seems to be stuck in a loop doing the same thing, working on paperwork. Which is probably what he was doing when was attacked." Sylphiel explained.

"_When did he show up at your place?"_

"Last night. I was going to sit down in front of my TV with some popcorn and I saw Gourry's face in the reflection of the screen."

"_Hmm... That would explain why the papers were left out. He must have gotten attacked while he was in the file room...I can't believe I'm even considering what you're telling me. God this is crazy! Are you sure it's Gourry?"_

"It is."

"_And to think I was all giddy yesterday about Gourry having to do all that paperwork. I shouldn't have left him alone..."_

"Mister Zangulus I know it's tough but you can't blame yourself. I've already told Miss Lina what happened and we're going to do what we can to figure things out. But Mister Zangulus we could use your help."

"_How so?"_

"Was there anything strange that happened yesterday? Anything out of place?"

"_Not really... Gourry doing paperwork was strange but nothing else I can recall."_

"Did you see a strange book? Like the ones in Mister Zelgadis' office?"

"_I um... can't remember... there were many things on Gourry's desk..."_

"Well how about the security camera? Could we see what the camera recorded?"

"_I don't know if I can let you see it. Hell I don't know what I'm going to tell the Chief. What a mess... I'll let you know later." _

"Thanks Mister Zangulus."

"_Miss Sylphiel can you do me a favour? Could you look after Gourry for me?"_

"I will." After Sylphiel hung up the phone she let out a heavy sigh. She took another sip of her coffee and realized it was cold. She spied a look at her coffee machine, there was still coffee in there but no doubt it wouldn't be all that fresh tasting. How long had she been up anyway?

"Who were you talking to?" Amelia wondered as she let out a yawn and joined Sylphiel in the kitchen.

"I was on the phone... I'm sorry did I wake you?"

Amelia shook her head. "It's okay. I was going to have to get up soon anyway. Miss Lina ought to be coming by soon with the ray gun." She rationalized as she poured herself a cup of coffee and added her usual amount of cream and sugar. However she made a face after she took a sip of the brew. "This doesn't taste right... How old is that coffee?"

"I'm sorry Amelia. I made it when I got up earlier. I couldn't sleep." Sylphiel apologized.

"It's fine really. I've had worse." Amelia sat down next to Sylphiel joining her in watching Gourry. "You know it's going to be okay right? Miss Lina will think of something."

"I know... but it's hard when it's someone you know."

"You knew Mister Xellos." Amelia was quick to point out. "And that didn't bother you as much."

"Well Miss Filia is much closer to Mister Xellos than I am." Sylphiel countered.

"Was it Miss Lina or Miss Filia that called?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "No it was Officer Zoanna."

"What did he want?"

"Gourry disappeared last night when he was supposed to be filing cases in their file room in the basement. Officer Zoanna was wondering if I knew where Gourry was or what happened to him." Sylphiel explained. She took another sip of her coffee despite the fact that it was cold.

"What did you tell him?"

"The truth. I could have lied to him but he told me he was going to look at the security camera footage."

"At the very least Officer Zoanna understands this type of situation better. Is he going to let us see what the camera recorded?"

Sylphiel shrugged. "He's going to try and see. But he may not be allowed too. But he's going to talk to his boss for us. So it saves us from calling in and making some lame excuse to why Gourry's not going to show up at work."

"Well that's good. I hate lying."

"You mean like lying to Mister Val about your sister?" Sylphiel nudged Amelia in the ribs. She needed a distraction to take away from the graveness of the current situation.

"Oh god I forgot!" Amelia's eyes were wide with shock. "She and Miss Filia's step-brother went on that date last night! What if it went terrible?"

"Has Miss Gracia called you or messaged you?"

"No, not one peep! I should call her!" Amelia was quick to fish around to find her cell but before she could start dialling Sylphiel snatched it away from her. "Hey! Why did you do that for?"

"Amelia what time is it?"

Amelia looked to the clock on the wall. It read 8:34. "It's after 8:30, that's not too early."

"What sort of function was it that your sister needed a date for in the first place?" Sylphiel prompted her.

"A charity party..."

"And what do you think the two of them did at the charity party?"

"Drank and partied." Amelia mumbled. Though her sister was a seasoned drinker it still wasn't a good idea to call her so early in the morning after a bender. "Okay I'll call her later..."

"Good. And I'm pretty sure if the date was going badly she would have called you last night to yell at you."

"You're probably right. Though I wonder how it did go..."

...

When Val woke up that morning he had no idea where he was. The room was dark, too dark for his liking. The curtains were dark and heavy letting little to no light into the room. With what little light he did have to see Val noted at he was in a bed and it had black satin sheets. Oh and he was naked too, as was his bed mate.

Confusion swelled in the professor's aqua haired head as he tried to remember exactly what happened the previous night. Faint memories of booze and an annoying laugh surfaced as it all started to defog. If it had been a different day of the week Val might have settled back in bed and snuggled up to the very naked woman whom was using him as a body pillow. Except it wasn't the weekend, it was the middle of the middle of the week. A quick look to his watch sent him into a full blown panic. "I'm going to be late!" He cried out as he tried to get out of bed to change.

Naga opened one of her azure blue eyes and glared at the offending noise. "And what are you doing?" She demanded not liking being woken up in such a rude fashion.

"I'm going to be late for work! Good god woman let go of me this instant!" Val tried to squirm out of Naga's arms but the actress did nothing of the sort.

"Am I not worth blowing off your job for one day? I am the great Naga actress extraordinaire! OHOHOHOHOH! I deserved to be ravished by morning kisses not rude voices."

Val cringed from the sound of her voice. It was too early in the morning for that especially when he was nursing a hangover. "I have to work. I didn't expect to be waking up in some strange woman's bed."

"I am not strange I am-"

"Yes, the gorgeous Naga! I know."

"I was going to say talented but I know that I am gorgeous. You don't need to tell me that." Naga batted her eyelashes flirtatiously.

Val cringed, this time for another reason. "I have to go, I have to work."

"Have to this, have to that." Naga mocked him. "What you're going to do is pick up your phone, call in sick and then ravish me with kisses. I may have been drunk last night but I do remember just how talented those lips of yours are." She pulled him back down and bit on his bottom lip.

For a moment there Val almost gave in. Naga was annoying yes, but she was also enthralling. "GWAH! Enough! I'm going to work!" Val declared as he finally got himself free from Naga's grasp and started getting dressed.

"Hmmp!" Naga rolled her eyes and sunk back into bed. "Fine. Run off to your silly job. I'll just see you later."

"What? What do you mean?" Val looked back at her as he tied up his shoes.

"It was charity function dear. You did bid on the big prize and won after all." She said in a seductive sing song voice.

"What did I bid on?"

"Me. You won a lunch date with me." Naga stretched in her bed.

Val snorted. "Why would I do something like that for?"

"When I look this good how could you not?" Naga smirked at him.

At first Val thought Naga was lying, but then it all started to come back to him. How he started a bidding war and how much he was glaring at all the men trying to outbid him. "How much did I bid?"

"Well let's just say... I don't come cheap."

Val paled. Getting to work late was going to be least of his troubles.


	42. Chapter 42

_Author's Notes: Due to inventory craziness at work I had to rush writing this part. I didn't have any time to go over it for errors so please ignore any grammar issues or typing errors. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-two

By Relm

"So what's this Gourry guy like anyway?" Zelgadis asked as he watched Lina load some equipment into the Ghost Slayermobile.

"Well he's a cop... An honest guy though not too bright. Like he always says what's on his mind even if it's not a smart thing to do." Lina grumbled thinking about the many times Gourry has commented on her chest and 'boyish' behaviour. If he hadn't been a cop Lina would have surly hurt and/or killed the blond man.

"You don't like him...?" Zelgadis prompted her noting her demeanour when she said that last comment.

"He's annoying but a good guy. So he's not exactly an easy one to stay mad at. Especially when he doesn't even realize he's done something wrong when he does mess up." Lina admitted feeling a tad guilty thinking about all the times she had snapped at him. Gourry always looked like a kicked puppy afterwards.

"And he's in love with Sylphiel?"

Lina nodded. "So much so that it's pathetic. Sylphiel either doesn't see it or she's in complete denial. It's kinda hard not see it, he practically follows her around like a lost puppy."

"Sylphiel's not in love with him though." Zelgadis more stated rather than asked.

Lina scrunched her face into a frown. "Sylphiel's very secretive. She always turns things around whenever you try to ask her a private question." Lina thought about it some more before coming to a conclusion. "I feel like we've had this conversation before."

Zelgadis was frowning too. "This does seem familiar... Not that my memory is too great as it is." He muttered.

"Still gaps in that noggin of yours?"

Zelgadis nodded. "I can remember things I've seen and read but not special events or personal things. I don't remember what my childhood was like or holidays. Or the name of first pet or if I ever had a pet."

"I'll bet you had a pet rock." Lina mused.

Zelgadis raised a curious eyebrow. "And why would you think that?"

"You just seem like the pet rock type."

"Is that some sort of a jab at me? That my parents didn't think I could handle the responsibility of looking after a pet?"

Lina chuckled. "Nah, you just don't look like a dog or a cat person. You're bookish and smart, can't image you doting on something fluffy. You would have been too busy studying to deal with a clingy pet. Thus a rock. It sits with you obediently and you don't have to deal with its poop."

Zelgadis eyed Lina suspiciously. "You had a pet rock didn't you?"

Lina stuck her tongue out at him. "I had a pet tarantula thank you very much. His name was Frank."

Zelgadis let out an unconscious shudder. He didn't remember it, but clearly he had a fear of spiders.

Lina shot Zelgadis a questioning look. "Don't like spiders?"

"I don't know... Maybe... It's the just the idea of having a tarantula as a pet seems well..." Zelgadis shuddered again. "Yeah I think I don't like spiders."

"Which is why a pet rock is what you had as a child." Lina concluded.

Now it was Zelgadis' turn to stick his tongue out at Lina. "So what exactly are you planning on doing when you get to Sylphiel's?"

"Shock Gourry and hope that he follows Sylphiel around like you followed me and Xellos did Filia." Lina explained while closing the trunk the door.

"If you shock him twice it should get him to start talking. But he'll probably disappear once you shoot him the first time... Does Sylphiel live in a house?"

Lina shook her head. "No she lives in an apartment."

"Well then that's might be problematic." Zelgadis concluded while pondering the situation.

Lina tightened her lips in a grimace as she followed Zelgadis' train of thought. Even if Gourry were to eventually follow Sylphiel he was bound to show up in another part of the building first. This meant that the ghostly police detective might scare the pants off one of the other tenants in the building. Sylphiel's neighbours were already annoyed with Sylphiel occasionally bringing her work home with her. "Great... That's just what I need, one of my employees getting evicted due to work." Lina muttered.

"So I guess it would be a good idea for me to stay here and wait for you all to come back." Zelgadis surmised feeling just a tad disappointed at the realization. Partly it was because of the reality of what he current was but mostly because he wanted to watch Lina work.

"You could still come." Lina mumbled. "Having someone around that can go through walls could be helpful in finding Gourry quickly."

"Maybe but I'm sure that would get Sylphiel's neighbours more agitated if there were two ghosts rather than just one." Zelgadis argued.

Lina frowned. "How many times are we going to go through this? You're not a ghost!"

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "You know the general public would disagree."

"I don't care! I don't want you saying that crap!"

"Still my point still stands. It's better off I'm not there so I don't scare anyone anymore than they need to be. Plus it might make the car ride back here a little awkward."

"The car can seat five." Lina reminded him.

"Yeah still it's bond to make things uncomfortable. Gourry is probably going to be confused with what's going on so it's probably better if he didn't have to deal with a stranger on top of things."

"He's probably not going to remember anything as it is." Lina countered.

"Just go Lina. I'll be fine here waiting." Zelgadis insisted.

"Are you sure?"

Zelgadis nodded. "This place is sure going to be full of transparent people if you guys can't figure out what to do about that book soon." He darkly joked as Lina got into the Ghost Slayersmobile.

"Yeah tell me about it." Lina exclaimed while shaking her head. "I'll see you later. Be good and make sure Slimer doesn't cause any trouble."

"Bye Lina."

...

Sylphiel and Amelia had just finished breakfast when Lina buzzed at the apartment front door.

"Come in Miss Lina." Sylphiel said into the intercom as she buzzed Lina in. She held her door open waiting for Lina to come down the hall. The Ghost Slayer boss looked to be quite awake which surprised Sylphiel. She had expected Lina to be half asleep. "Have you been up a while?"

Lina nodded. "The thai food wasn't enough yesterday. So my stomach woke me earlier. What about you did you even sleep?" She wondered looking at Sylphiel's appearance.

Sylphiel had gotten dressed and ready for the day but her eyes looked red and puffy. She kinda looked like either she hadn't gotten any sleep or she had been crying. But in this case it had been both. "I couldn't sleep." Sylphiel admitted as she let Lina into her apartment.

"Did Amelia come over?"

"Yes Miss Lina I'm right here!" Amelia announced from the kitchen table.

Lina walked into Sylphiel's living room and observed the transparent police officer working on paperwork at Sylphiel's table. "Has he been doing that the whole time?"

Sylphiel nodded. "Gourry's last day had been a pretty boring one. His boss had him doing paperwork all day. And he most likely was attacked in the case file room in the basement."

"How do you know that?"

"Officer Zoanna called me earlier asking about Gourry. I'm sorry Miss Lina but I told him the truth." Sylphiel apologized.

Lina just shrugged. "Best thing to do giving the circumstances. At least Zangulus knows what sort of things we deal with. So it's not like he wouldn't believe it at all. Plus he can lie for us to his boss about why Gourry isn't showing up for work."

"That's true I suppose." Sylphiel frowned as she looked at Gourry again. "Officer Zoanna said that the last anyone saw of Gourry he was going down to the case file room but he never came back up. All the files had had been filing were left out on the table and not put away."

"Is there anyway he could have gotten out of the room without being seen?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "There's only one way in and out of that room. And that's through the door that leads down the stairs. However they do have a security camera in the room and Officer Zoanna is going to try and see if he can let us see it."

"It would be helpful... but at the same time it wouldn't. More likely we'll either just seen a hand reaching out from a book to grab Gourry or the camera feed would have been disrupted during the attack." Lina mused as she charged up her gun.

"Why is it attacking people we know?" Sylphiel let out a whine.

"We didn't know Zel." Lina reminded her. "It's got to be a coincidence. We'll have to discuss it when we all get back to HQ." She aimed her gun and fired at Gourry. The blond transparent police detective convulsed from the shook and then disappeared.

"Where did he go?" Amelia wondered looking around.

A scream from a couple suits down answered that question as Lina, Sylphiel and Amelia all ran to the source of the noise.

Sure enough Gourry was standing confused in one of Sylphiel's neighbour's living rooms while the said neighbour was screaming.

"I'm going to complain the manager for this!" The neighbour screamed as Lina and company rushed to the woman's aid. "You can't keep brining ghosts home with you! This isn't right!"

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Hendle!" Sylphiel apologized as she motioned for Gourry to follow her.

"You'll be even sorrier when I have the manager evict you! My heart is too old for this scary stuff." Mrs. Hendle exclaimed while shaking her head.

"I'm very very sorry." Sylphiel apologized as she and the team left the suit with Gourry following.

Gourry had clearly been upset himself by the screaming and seemed relieved to be away from it and near Sylphiel.

Lina shot Gourry one more time and this time the blond man didn't shift off.

Gourry looked around in confusion having no clear idea where he was or what was going on. "Why am I here? And why can I see through me?" Though a normal man might have been terribly upset about being able to see through themselves this itself just made Gourry too confused to be upset.

"Gourry you were attacked by some entity that is trapped in a book. How much do you remember?" Sylphiel asked him gently as she searched his blue eyes.

Whatever trouble that had been clouding Gourry's eyes left him as he looked into Sylphiel's emerald green ones. "Nothing at all!" He beamed as though he should be proud of this fact.

Lina and Amelia both groaned.

"Well I guess we should have expected that Mister Gourry wouldn't have his memory." Amelia mused.

"Given that Gourry's memory is so bad as it is I figured he probably would have been able to remember just by dumb luck." Lina muttered. "Okay Gourry here's the story. You're a police detective and you were attacked. Your body was taken by a demonic book and you are now the third victim that we know of. My name is Lina and I'm the leader of the company 'Ghost Slayers'. We deal with ghosts that haunt buildings and people. These are my two associates, Amelia and Sylphiel." Lina introduced them. "And now you're going to come back with us to Ghost Slayer HQ so we can try and figure out this mess."

"Okay." Gourry exclaimed with a big bright smile as though he didn't have a care in the world.

Lina just shook her head. 'Zel could have came. Gourry doesn't look the least bit upset. Go figure he's dumb to be upset.' She quickly brushed off that thought as it didn't seem right to be making jabs a victim. In reality Lina should have just been relieved that Gourry wasn't freaking out and causing a scene. Lest not get Sylphiel into more hot water with her neighbours. "Alright let's go back to HQ."


	43. Chapter 43

_Author's Notes: I almost forgot to post this! And there's really no excuse as I did have it ready after all. Instead of having trouble writing this like I have been with all the fics I've written this and last week I actually got this one done with ease. But it just slipped my mind I guess. Well better late than never right?_

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-three

By Relm

Even though Zelgadis had argued that it would be cramped in the Ghost Slayermobile if he went along both he and Lina forgot that Sylphiel and Amelia would both have their cars. Naturally both of Lina's workers would want to drive their own cars to work.

However that was moot anyway since Zelgadis didn't go along. And even though Sylphiel would normally rather drive to work she opted not to this time. Given that she got pretty much no sleep the night before she didn't feel safe driving. So Sylphiel decided she was going to ride with Lina. And given that Gourry had no memory he was quick to cling to Sylphiel (emotionally not physically) so he decided that he wanted to go in the same car as Sylphiel.

So the trio of Ghost Slayers and one transparent police detective took two cars as they drove back to HQ. Three people in one car and one person following with the other.

Lina let out a yawn as she herself was still a bit tired. She spied a look at her backseat passengers. Sylphiel looked both very tired and stressed while Gourry was happily looking out the window looking marveled by the sights he saw. Lina couldn't help but chuckle as Gourry reminded her a little of a small child or an enthusiastic dog.

"So where are we going?" Gourry asked breaking Lina from her thoughts.

"We're taking to where we work." Sylphiel explained.

"Oh. What do you guys do?"

"We're ghost slayers." Lina piped up.

"Okay... and what do ghost slayers do?"

Lina just shook her head. "Seriously? We slay ghosts Gourry!"

"Oh. Okay." And with that Gourry went back to looking out the window.

Lina let out another sigh.

...

The first thing Lina noticed when she parked the Ghost Slayermobile was that Filia's car was already in the lot. She couldn't help but let out a dark chuckle as this sight. No doubt Filia would be in a foul mood.

"You may not want to go up there." Zelgadis warned Lina while approaching the car.

"Hurricane Filia has landed?" Lina joked.

Zelgadis nodded. "She's pretty mad. Be ready to dodge things."

"Why is Miss Filia mad for?" Amelia wondered. Sylphiel also looked on in confusion.

"Xellos followed her home last night." Zelgadis explained.

"Ahhh..." Both Sylphiel and Amelia exclaimed in unison.

"Who's Xellos?" Gourry wondered. "And why is that guy see-through? Is he a ghost?"

Zelgadis opened his mouth to answer but Lina cut him off.

"He's just like you." Lina explained while shooting a glare at Zelgadis as she knew exactly what the transparent librarian was going to say.

"I'm a ghost?" Gourry squeaked looking at himself in horror. He knew back at Sylphiel's apartment building that he could see-through himself but for whatever reason he hadn't clued in why he should be concerned by it.

"No you aren't." Lina responded in irritation. It was bad enough that Zelgadis was being so depressive about his state that Lina didn't need a hysterical Gourry on top of things.

"Oh good that's a relief! I was worried there for a moment!" A bright carefree smile returned to Gourry's face.

Right away Zelgadis shot a questioning look that conveyed _'Is he for real?' _

Lina sadly nodded back. She was glad that Gourry wasn't going to be overly upset but at the same time having him blissfully ignorant was annoying too.

...

Upstairs Filia sat the break room table drinking coffee. You knew it was a bad sign if Filia was drinking coffee. Filia's beverage of choice was never coffee; she was a tea person. There were other signs of things being off with Filia. Her hair was a mess and there were bags under her eyes.

As soon as Lina and the others walked into the room Filia was glaring an angry red glare at them.

"Good morning!" Xellos greeted them with an extra cheerful voice and smile which was a stark contrast to Filia's dark disposition.

Filia's glare traveled back to Xellos whom she continued to glare at while she drank her coffee.

"Hi Filia." Lina greeted her blond haired worker nervously.

Filia glanced at Lina narrowing her eyes. "Hi Lina."

"So how's it going?" Lina's voice was sugary sweet with trepidation.

Filia didn't answer she just went back to drinking her coffee.

"Oh ignore her." Xellos cut in. "She's just a grump when she doesn't get enough beauty sleep. And sadly as you can see she definitely needed it."

Ordinarily such a comment would garner a violent reaction from the blond haired ghost slayer but as it stands she was just too tired to care. "Zelgadis can you hit him for me?"

Zelgadis cracked his knuckles. "With pleasure!"

"Hold on there Rocky!" Lina motioned for Zelgadis to stop. "No fighting. Just because Filia says to doesn't mean you can go and beat up the guy."

"Guy?" Gourry looked at Xellos with confusion. "I thought he was a girl."

Xellos snapped his head to stare at Gourry with his eyes wide open. "Excuse me? I am not a girl!"

Gourry shrugged. "Well you look kinda girly."

Filia let out a chuckle that quickly died on her throat. "Wait, that's Gourry and I can see through him... The book got him too?"

"I'm surprised you noticed at all." Lina grumbled sarcastically.

"I'm tired so sue me!" Filia grumbled back.

Gourry looked at his reflection in a mirror on the wall and then looked at Filia. "Is she my sister? 'Cause we look alike."

Filia looked at Gourry with a mix of annoyance and confusion. "So clearly his memory is shot too."

"You do look like you could be related." Xellos commented.

"Why is he see-through?" Gourry wondered looking at Xellos.

"Gourry we've been over this!" Lina exclaimed in exasperation.

"Do we know anything about his attack?" Filia injected.

Sylphiel nodded. "Officer Zoanna called me earlier. Gourry was working in the file room downstairs in the police station and he didn't come back up. The case files that he was supposed to be filing had been left on the table and not put away. And there's no way he could have left the room without anyone seeing. Officer Zoanna is going to see if he can let us see the security camera footage."

"Well I take it you told him exactly what happened to Gourry then?" Filia mused taking another sip of her dreadful coffee. She hated the stuff but she didn't think she could stay awake otherwise. "Just as well, he knows the kinds of things we deal with so he'd understand. But I don't think the camera footage would be that helpful. Probably will just show a ghostly red hand emerging from the pages of the demon book grabbing Gourry and making them both disappear."

Gourry shivered. "That sounds scary!"

"It could be helpful." Sylphiel retorted hopefully. She had to believe that there was a chance that they could solve this mystery quickly. It horrified her to think that Gourry was going to be stuck in a ghost like form for the rest of his life.

"That's assuming the camera even got the footage. You know how it is with ghosts and demons, their energies disrupt electrical equipment like cameras." Filia shot back.

While her workers were arguing amongst themselves Lina was on a different train of thought. She left the lunch room and sped off to the offices. She returned to the lunch room with a large rolled up piece of paper, some push pins and a red marker.

"What's that Miss Lina?" Amelia asked.

Lina didn't answer she instead proceed to tack the paper up on the wall. It was a map of Sailune. "We know what the book does to its victims but the question is why are they being attacked?" She drew little circles on the locations of the attacks. Each spot was pretty spaced out.

"Well if you connect the dots it makes a triangle." Amelia observed.

Filia snorted. "It's three points; of course it makes a triangle."

Sylphiel went and grabbed a ruler from one of the cupboard drawers and measured the distances between the points. "The distance between the first attack site and the second is the same as the distance between the second and the third. However it's a much shorter distance between the first and the third."

"That's what I was thinking." Lina mused. "The book could be following a pattern. Making the fact that we know some of the victims a coincidence that it's just because of where they work."

"If we assume that the next attack will be an equal distance from second to third then the forth attack should occur in this radius." Sylphiel measured it out and drew a circle on the map.

"First place was a library, second a university and third was a police station... All points are important places in the city. So what do you see that's important along that circle?" Lina posed the question to her workers.

All the ghost slayers and demonic book victims looked at the map closely.

Slimer entered the room and looked at his friends in curiosity. He floated over to them and looked at what they were staring at. It made him frown in confusion as he didn't understand what so special about a piece of paper on the wall. Losing interest he focused on something else, like the belch his stomach was gurgling to expel. Putting his full effort Slimer belted out that belch so that it was as loud and as long as he could manage.

Lina, Sylphiel, Amelia and Filia barely acknowledged the offending noise while the male counterparts of the room jumped at the sudden noise.

Xellos disappeared and popped up right next to Filia and Gourry did the same with Sylphiel while Zelgadis just flinched.

"What is that?" Gourry screeched pointing at Slimer.

Slimer flashed him a gooey smile and waved.

"That's a ghost." Lina stated matter-of-factly.

Gourry screamed and cowered behind Sylphiel. "A GHOST! EEEEEE!"

"Gourry it's okay." Sylphiel tried to reassure Gourry whom was clutching onto her shoulders very tightly in fright. She couldn't help but blush at the contact. "That's Slimer, he's a friendly ghost."

"Oh that's a relief!" Gourry relaxed and went to introduce himself to Slimer. "Hi I'm Gourry."

Lina almost smacked her head in disbelief. "You were just frightened by Slimer and now you're introducing yourself?"

"Sylphiel said he was friendly. And trust Sylphiel. She always tells the truth." Gourry beamed with a big happy smile.

"Does that mean you remember things now?" Lina questioned Gourry.

Gourry thought hard for a moment. His eyes lit up when he came to a realization. "Nope! Not a thing!"

There were collective groans chorusing around the room.

"I think the better thing to be interested in is the fact that he had been grabbing Sylphiel by the shoulders." Zelgadis pointed out. "Instead of going right through them."

"That's right! He was touching me!" Sylphiel exclaimed and then blushed again thinking how bad that sounded.

"Yes well we know you guys can manage to touch things physically already! Let's get back to the map!" Lina growled annoyed that the focus was being taken away so easily.

"Okay there's a hospital." Zelgadis pointed to one point on the circle.

"A church." Sylphiel pointed out another.

"The theatre." Filia added.

"The museum." Amelia also pointed out.

"And a park and a train station." Lina concluded. "That's a lot of places the next attack could be. Assuming that Zelgadis was victim number one and Xellos and Gourry were numbers two and three. There could be lots of other victims out there that we don't know." She let out a heavy depressive sigh. The further along they got into this mystery the farther away Lina felt they were to an answer. It was very frustrating.


	44. Chapter 44

_Author's Notes: Another one written under the gun. So yeah didn't exactly have time to really re-read this over and edit stuff. I hope it makes sense and isn't riddled with errors. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-four

By Relm

Val grumbled as he stared at his empty classroom. There was an unspoken rule at the university that if the professor was more than thirty minutes late to class that the students could leave. In most cases it was because then it was assumed that class had been cancelled. In this case however it was just circumstances that lead Val to arrive so late.

Given that he woke up at 'Naga's' home the only clothing Val had with him was the suit he wore to the charity event. The suit itself wasn't a terrible one, but it was far too formal for teaching. That and a few of the buttons on the shirt had been popped off by his too enthusiastic bedmate from the night before. So Val had no choice but to race home first to change.

Val had called the university to give them a heads up about his lateness so they could warn his class. Apparently the message wasn't passed on or the students just took it as an excuse to bail. It made Val angry as he had tried to get to the university as fast as he could. If he had known this was going to happen he wouldn't have rushed so much.

_You could have stayed with Naga a little while longer..._ A voice in the back of Val's head rang away pointing out things he would much rather keep tucked away.

Val found himself groaning at the thought of Naga naked amongst those black satin sheets. Yes his head had been pounding and her voice had been annoying but it had been such a tempting moment for him. But he chose work over pleasure and now he was bored.

With no class to teach all Val could do was mark tests and homework assignments. Given his hangover induced bitter mood the grades he was giving were not very generous. If these were papers and tests from the class that chose to skip then that would make sense he would grade them poorly. However they weren't they were the tests and papers from his later period classes.

Spying a look at the clock on the wall Val was dismayed to realize he still had a good twenty minutes till the start of the next period.

...

Amelia was working on researching the various places of interest she and her co-workers had decided were possible targets when her phone rang. Since Amelia hadn't been expecting any phone calls at that time so it startled her.

"Who's calling?" Lina wondered as she watched her youngest employee try and fish out her cell phone from her purse.

"It's my sister." Amelia answered looking at her cell in confusion.

Filia was quick to glare at Amelia. She wasn't too pleased with what Amelia had done in regards to Filia's step-brother.

"Hello?" Amelia answered her phone while timidly trying to avoid Filia's glare.

"_Hi Ames! How are you doing this fine and lovely morning?" _Naga's voice was almost sing-song like over the cell phone speakers.

"As well as can be expected. We're dealing with some strange-"

"_Nevermind I've lost interest in your ramblings. Let's talk about a more interesting subject, me. OHOHOHOHOHOH!" _

Amelia rolled her eyes at her sister's obvious narcissism. "How did the charity event go?"

"_Swimmingly! I looked fabulous as always and that special little accessory you sent me was the perfect added touch to my outfit!" _

At first Amelia was confused, what was her sister talking about? "Do you mean Mister Val?"

"_Mister Val, oh my how professional sounding. Though he's a professor so shouldn't it be Professor Val?" _Naga let out a girlish giggle which was very uncharacteristic of her.

"Um... well no... as Val is his first name... But I'm assuming things went well?"

"_OHOHOHOH! Well indeed! That man has a wicked mouth! It makes me shiver just thinking about it!"_

"Wha-what are you talking about?"

"_Oh dear me sister dear. Do you really think I'm the sort of woman to kiss and tell?" _Naga's voice sounded rather naughty at that comment.

"Um... I um..."

"_Tisk tisk Ames. I will not go into those details! Stop pestering me for them! Sometimes you are such a nosy little thing!" _

Amelia shook her head once more. "How was Mister Val at the charity event?"

"_Well that I can tell you about. He arrived so deliciously wrapped up like a Christmas present. Not as tall as I wanted but that was fine as I was warned about that. And his bulging biceps were a nice surprise." _

"Okay so you liked the way he looked... what else?"

"_He's a fantastic dancer and I love his sexy deep angry voice. Grrr! I know there were many women who were just green with envy! I felt like a brighter star than I usual do. OHOHOHOHOHOH! Oh and he's jealous beast too!"_

"Jealous? Mister Val didn't hurt anyone at the party did he?"

"_No but he just might have if that man bid him up any higher! That's actually the reason why I'm calling. During the event there was an auction and lunch with me was one of the prizes! So I wanted to know, what's Val's favourite food?" _

"Um... what? Ah... give me a moment..." Amelia put her phone down and looked over at Filia with a most puzzled look on her face. "Um Miss Filia... what's Mister Val's favourite food?"

Filia's face scrunched up into a frown. "What? Why does your crazy sister want to know that for?"

"I think Mister Val won a lunch date with my sister in a bidding war...?" Amelia mumbled in confusion.

"Great... just what I need my step-brother dating your crazy big boobed sister..." Filia shook her head and shuddered at the thought. "Val pretty much likes everything. Seriously he'll eat anything."

"Okay." Amelia put her cell back to her ear. "Miss Filia says that Mister Val isn't a picky eater and will go for just about anything."

"_OHOHOHOHOHOH! Excellent! I'll talk to you later! Love ya!" _

Amelia looked at her phone and let out a deep sigh.

"Please tell me your crazy sister wasn't excited about this lunch date." Filia demanded while glaring at Amelia.

Amelia weakly smiled at Filia and giggled nervously. "Sorry...?"

Filia rolled her eyes. "Well at least they haven't slept together."

Amelia's nervous smile remained on her face but she was mum on the subject. Though her sister didn't come right out and say it Naga did imply some form of hanky-panky had occurred.

...

"Now turn to page 156 in your book and you'll see an example of poor usage of foreshadowing and irony." Val instructed his students as he wrote on the board. "Now I want you all to read the passage and write an essay on what the author did wrong and what would have been the proper way to use these literary devices in the context of the story."

The class let out a collective groan at Val's assignment.

"Shut it and get reading!" Val yelled slamming a ruler on his desk.

The students jumped in surprise and quickly got to their assignments. Val was being particularly short tempered so the students weren't about to push their luck.

Val plopped himself down and went over the pop quizzes he had assaulted his students with earlier. His mood hadn't improved much since the start of his school day. Coming into an empty classroom and nursing a hangover headache was bad enough but he had another problem to make his day worse. In all his rush to get to work Val didn't bother to eat any breakfast. It was practically lunch time and he was starving. It was times like this that Val wished he still had that stash of food in his desk. He still didn't know who it was that stole his munchies though he was sure it was Xellos or Phibrizzo.

The sound of a door opening and clicking of footsteps on the hardwood floor distracted the students from their assignments and made the turn their heads. They were shocked to see a tall busty woman wearing a pair of faded black skinny jeans, black knee-high boots, black sequined halter top and a black cropped fitted jacket. She had a saucy little smile as she strutted her way towards the front of the class.

"Whoever that it is better sit down or they get a failing grade in this class!" Val threatened not even looking up from the papers he was marking.

"Ooohh... Does that mean I'll have to stay after class for... detention?" The owner of the high heeled boots purred in a most sexual manner.

Val's face snapped right up and with eyes as large as saucers he looked at the offender. He was completely shocked to see Naga standing before him holding a couple bags of take out thai food. "Na-Naga? What are you doing here?"

"OHOHOHOHO! Did you think I was going to let a silly thing like school get in the way of our lunch date?" Naga waved the bags of takeout in front of Val's face.

Val could smell the food through the bags and it smelled heavenly. "But I'm working right now!" He growled at her through gritted teeth.

"Well we can fix that. Class dismissed." Naga motioned for the students to leave.

The class hesitantly started to pack up their things.

"Get back to your assignment!" Val ordered his class. "And you..." He glared at Naga. "Sit down and wait till the period is over." He pointed to a chair adjacent to his desk.

Naga smiled and then did as she was told. She sat down... on Val's desk. She crossed her legs and arched her back as she shot a sideways glance at Val.

Val just shook his head and tried ignore both the beautiful woman and the delicious food sitting on his desk.

Even though the students were supposed to be doing their assignment more than a few of them were chatting via text and twitter about their teacher's mysterious lunch date. There were quite a few rumors flying about the main suggesting that 'Naga' was a prostitute. She did seem too pretty for a man like Val. Especially then they were porn star pretty.

Really the students should have been more concerned with doing their assignment as Val was so on edge that he was likely to snap at anyone at that moment. But the period was almost over so it didn't seem likely that Val would ask for their essays till tomorrow's class.

"You know the food will get cold." Naga reminded Val.

"It's just a few minutes." Val grumbled after spying a look at the clock.

"Then why not let them all out early?"

Val didn't need to answer that question as the bell rang signalling the end of the period. "I want those papers first thing next class. As well as five page paper character study on the protagonist of Aongsh's 'Ashen Forrest'."

More collective groaning from the students as they exited the classroom.

"So can I be the teacher the next period?" Naga purred as she turned around so she was laying on Val's desk propped up on her forearms and her legs up in the air.

"No. And get off my desk!" Val growled.

"Do you know how sexy your voice is when you're angry?" Naga raised an eyebrow at Val as she got off his desk.

Val wanted to mad, hell he wanted to scream at her, but he couldn't. Not when he was blushing so hard. "Where do you want to eat?"

Naga chuckled to herself. "Here is just fine." She purred as she opened up one of the containers and brandished a plastic fork. Twirling the pad thai like it was spaghetti Naga got a good forkful and brought it up to Val's mouth.

"Wha-what are you doing?" Val exclaimed all flustered.

"OHOHOHOHOH! Feeding you your lunch you sexy beast. You paid so much so for this honor after all."

Val was still blushing as he let Naga feed him. It was embarrassing, sexy and depressing. Embarrassing because he was being fed like a kid, sexy because it was Naga that was doing it and depressing as she reminded him of just how much money he had thrown away at that charity dinner. "What was the charity event for again?"

"Um... kids who are um... homeless... and need things... or stuff..." Naga mumbled.

"Oh so you don't even know what I wasted my money on?" Val snapped at her.

"Wasting? Excuse me this is a privilege!" Naga huffed.

Val rolled his eyes.

"Well if you're going to be so ungrateful then I won't give you your present." Naga threatened him.

This perked Val's interest. "And what would that be?"

Naga pulled out a ticket from her jacket and handed it to Val. "It's a ticket to see the play that I happen to star in. We could have dinner afterwards."

Val looked at the ticket and noted the date. "This Saturday? Why not Friday?"

"Oh I'm spending the day with my little sister. I could cancel but Ames practically begged me to agree to spend some time with her. I love her but she is so needy. But that could be because I'm a famous actress and she slays ghosts for a living. Can't blame her for feeling deprived of attention. OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed feeling pretty good about herself. Though it was Naga who asked Amelia to spend the day with her and not the other way around. But she didn't have to tell Val that.

_(Author's Notes: I know I'm laying the Naga/Valness a little thick though there is a method to my madness. I could just skip the point but I want to establish more of rapport between the two. Plus writing those too is just too darn fun. I highly recommend anyone the pairing to anyone wanting to try a pairing.) _


	45. Chapter 45

****_Author's Notes: This would have gone up earlier but I was having trouble logging into fanfiction . net. I don't know if it's just me but I had to go to another computer to use a different web browser. Oh well better late than never._

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-five

By Relm

"Now let's see the scene again but this time Naga can we have no more laughing?" The play director Zolf grumbled from his seat in the audience of Sailune Theatre while massaging his temples. His 'star' actress was trying his patience very thin.

"But it's key to my character to laugh to show a full range of emotions!" Naga protested from the middle of the stage waving the old book she held in her hand in the air to emphasize her point.

"Naga your character just found out her love was murdered! She would not be laughing at that moment!" Zolf growled.

"In times of delirium and denial laughing is very likely! OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga's laugh made more than one person cringe.

"Not when the script clearly states that you are sad and on the verge of tears!" Zolf roared back. "No do the scene properly."

Naga rolled her eyes got back to her spot on the stage sitting on a couch and opened the book once more. She barely glanced at the pages that she was supposed to be pretending to read so she failed to register anything strange about the book's red lettering. There was also the feeling of evil energy that emanated from the book that Naga also missed. But given that she was a smidge evil herself it was doubtful she would even care. So Naga just jumped right back into the scene with as much bravura as before.

Opening night for the play was slated for Friday evening (the next day) and everyone was excited for it. Except for Zolf the director of course on the count of Naga not following direction. Not that he needed to worry much; Naga was always professional when it came to the actual curtain time. Still it did little to abate Zolf's growing headache.

In fact Zolf was so consumed with the throbbing pain centered around the area above his eyes that he barely noticed the tall and broad man that sat down next to him.

"She's pretty good huh?" The large man remarked with just a hint of pride spilling into his tone.

Zolf almost jumped in his seat at the sudden noise. He hadn't heard or notice anyone sit down next to him and it was more alarmingly so given the stature of the man. Zolf was by no means a small man but he did feel dwarfed by the man who had sat down next to him. If the size of the man wasn't frightening enough there was another noteworthy thing to heed. This was no ordinary man. No it was the Philonel Sailune! A man who was both the mayor of their fair city and the father of the annoying lead actress of the play. "Mayor Sailune! I didn't even see you come in!" Zolf stammered.

"Oh I just had to sneak in to see my little girl on stage. I hope it's okay."

"No, no it's fine! You can come any time you want Mayor Sailune." Zolf laughed a shrilly nervous laugh as beads of sweat poured down the side of his face.

"Please call me Philonel."

"Right Mayor Philonel." Zolf nodded far too many times in agreement.

Philonel only shook his head in response. He decided not to correct the man and just continued on with his original train of thought. "So how is my baby girl doing?"

"Always the brightest star on stage!" Zolf squeaked with more nervous laugher bubbling out of his throat. Philonel was known for his peaceful ways and abstaining from violence and vulgarities but that didn't stop Zolf from being afraid of the man. When you were talking to someone who looked like they could squash you like a bug it was always better to air on the side of caution. He spied a look at his watch and was delighted to see it was lunch time. "Alright everyone we're done for now! I'll see you all after lunch!"

Though everyone had dispersed to go off on their own Naga still stood on stage silently going over her lines and movements in the scene. The book with the red lettering was still in her hand but still Naga failed to see anything wrong with the pages before her. The book seemed to realize that many people were leaving the theatre stage area giving it a chance to get what it desired. The letters started to glow again pulsing like a devil's heartbeat. This was completely lost on Naga. Her mind was centered on one thing and one thing only. Her scene. And since she was so focused on her work she had barely acknowledged the newcomer in the theatre not even bothering to see who it was. But she couldn't ignore the man any longer as he had hopped up onto to stage in front of her. "Daddy?" She exclaimed in joy. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you pumpkin. Would it be okay if your old Dad took you out for lunch?" Mayor Philonel Sailune said with a twinkle sparkling away in his blue eyes.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOH! I wouldn't deny you the pleasure Daddy-dearest! We shall dine a fine restaurant with lots and lots of wine! OHOHOHOHOHOH!"

"Gracia sweetie I am not going to take you to a restaurant just so you'll drink yourself to stupor!" Philonel protested.

"Please Daddy? Just one glass? That's all I want, just one small glass of wine?" She batted her eyelashes with the saddest of puppy dog faces one could throw on in a pinch.

Lesser men had been roped by Naga's charms. She was a man-eater who could pretty much get whatever she wished. However that wasn't the case with her father.

"No Gracia, no wine. Not when you have to come back here later to rehearse." Philonel stated rather sternly.

Naga let out a defeated sigh. "Alright Daddy." She causally tossed the book in her hand into the table on stage not caring how it landed. The book ended up laying on the table open making the red stained pages visible to anyone nearby.

The closest people were Naga and Philonel but both of them were on their way out and had their backs turned to the evil book. Both of them missed the glowing red letters that seemed to be pulsating in a more furious pace. It wanted another victim but there was no one left in the theatre. So again the book had to wait and it stewed in its growing impatience.

...

Since making the discovery of the potential next target sites for the demon book the employees at Ghost Slayers had been hard at work on the phones. Each day was spent calling each potential site for reports of attacks of a ghostly nature. They had also visited some of the places on the list but they discovered nothing new. Sure there was a few ghosts lingering around the hospital (there always was) but those were real ghosts not the faux ghosts that Zelgadis, Xellos and Gourry seemed to be. If the book was already at one of the locations it was pretty well hidden.

If Lina had the staff and resources she would have had all the locations staked out to try and find the book before it attacked again. But with only three employees of hers and six possible locations there was no way to watch them all. And the park itself would require almost all of them just to stake it out properly. This was assuming of course that Sylphiel's circle idea was correct. If there were more victims that Lina and company weren't aware of then the next attack site could be anywhere.

"Thank you again sir. Goodbye." Sylphiel mumbled politely into phone as she hung it up. "Okay I think the museum is getting sick of hearing from me. I hadn't even said hello yet and he was already telling me there was no ghosts or evil books."

"Same here with the train station." Filia piped up. "Except with me it's 'Oh no it's you again? Stop calling me lady, there's no ghosts!'"

"The parks people won't even answer their phones at all." Lina added. "At least the church people are pleasant with me when I call. And I think the hospital is going to hire us for some future jobs."

"Well that's looking on the bright side Miss Lina!" Amelia beamed. "It would be wonderful if we could usher all those poor tortured souls wandering the hospital halls to the light and make them achieve inner peace."

"Yeah and my wallet would achieve inner peace with all the money we'll get!" Lina grinned ear to ear imagining herself rolling a pile of money.

"Miss Lina!" Amelia whined. "That's not what I meant and you know it! We should be focusing on good deeds not worldly gains!"

"Which is why you're going to the church instead of me later to check up with them." Lina decided pointing at Amelia.

"Afraid you'll burn from the sight of the crosses?" Zelgadis joked from the other side of the room. He and the other 'ghosts' were sitting around at the other end of the table trying to play a game of cards.

Lina angrily threw a pencil at him knowing full well it wouldn't do anything. "Anything new from the theatre Amelia?"

Amelia shook her head. "Nothing. Every time I talk to my sister and bring up the subject of the demon book she somehow turns the conversation around so that we're talking about her. She doesn't seem terribly concerned about a possible people eating book as she is about what sort of perfume she should wear for Saturday."

"What's happening Saturday?" Filia wondered feel a sense of dread filling the pit of her stomach.

"Well..." Amelia laughed nervously. "She's acting in her play of course... but afterwards she kind has a little after hours dinner date with..." Amelia trailed off for fear of stoking Filia's ire.

"My step-brother...?" Filia finished off prompted Amelia with a raised eyebrow.

Amelia nodded with shame washing her face. "Really I'm sorry Miss Filia! I had no idea that the two of them would hit it off so well! They seem to have such opposing personalities!"

Lina snorted. "Yeah right, they are both annoying, self centered and loud. How is that opposing?"

Both Filia and Amelia shot Lina a glare showing their loyalties to their siblings.

"But really Miss Filia I am sorry." Amelia apologized. "But for what it's worth my sister really seems to like your brother-"

"Step-brother." Filia quickly corrected her.

"Step-brother, and I'm sure she has no intensions of hurting him." Amelia assured Filia.

"So Naga and Val are going to get married and have lots of annoying babies blah, blah, blah... Did you actually talk to someone at the theatre that isn't a self absorbed air head?" Lina prompted Amelia with obvious distain in her voice.

"My sister is not an airhead!" Amelia protested. "But yes I did talk to other people at the theatre. None of them have seen anything weird. There are some there who believe the place is haunted but no more than the usual lingering spirits that have been there for years. Though they have been feeling a little nervous and agitated which could mean the book is there. But they insist it's because of stress of opening night tomorrow and my sister's presence and not because of the book." She concluded reading off her notepad.

"Have you taken a look around yet to see for yourself?" Sylphiel wondered.

Amelia shook her head. "I'm not allowed to according to the director. He's already peeved at me for calling so much. No one but cast, crew or maintenance is allowed in the theatre till opening night."

"Are going to go see your sister's awful performance?" Lina wondered while cringing.

"She's a very good actress Miss Lina!" Amelia snapped. "You should know that already! And yes I am going to see the play. Gracia did give me a ticket alright. Two in fact. Would anyone like to go with me?"

Slimer was first to raise his hand waving it in the air enthusiastically.

Amelia just had to giggle at her favourite ghost's reaction. "I'm sorry Slimer but I think it might cause a panic if a brought a floating green legless ghost to the theatre."

Slimer put his hand down feeling defeated. At least he was winning at the card game. Which given that he was the only one that could pick them up wasn't all that hard.

"I would love to go with you but I feel my dear Filia would be jealous." Xellos said rather smoothly in a sexy silky voice.

Filia threw a chair at Xellos for that remark.

"Filia stop throwing chairs at him!" Lina ordered her blond worker. "He's already got three of them over there with him from what you threw before."

"So getting back to my original question, does anyone want to come with me?" Amelia posed her question once more.

Amelia got no replies to her question making it clear that she wouldn't be going with anyone of them.

"I guess I'm going solo." Amelia sighed.

"It's just as well Amelia. The ghost slaying equipment you're going to bring to the play will take up a whole seat on its own. You could just throw a hat on it and call it your date. Then at least you wouldn't be a dateless loser." Lina joked.

"Miss Lina! That's not funny! I am not a dateless loser! I could easily get a date if I wanted one. And I can't bring all my equipment to the play! However will I explain all that stuff to the people around me? Everyone will think the theatre is really haunted and it will cause a massive panic. They'd kick me out for sure for causing a fuss!"

"Alright fine. Just bring your scanner but make sure you have your cell handy just in case there is a problem." Lina cautioned her. "And just how a curiosity who would you ask?"

"Who what...?"

"You said you could get a date if you wanted one, so I was wondering who would you ask?" Lina wondered with a saucy little smile tugging at her lips.

"Tha-that's none of your business!" Amelia blushed redder than a tomato and refused to look anywhere but the floor at that moment.

"Oooooh! Amelia has got a crush on someone! Who is it who is it WHO IS IT?" Filia taunted her.

"Yeah Amelia who is your secret lover?" Lina joined in.

"Now will you two leave Amelia alone?" Sylphiel interjected. "Her personal life is her personal life. And if she wants to go out on a date with someone whether it be that blond haired man that who runs the coffee shop or the grad student Pokota that Amelia used to hang out when she used to go to the university that's her business! Not ours."

"Oooooh! Coffee shop guy is cute!" Both Filia and Lina giggled.

Amelia just rolled her eyes and buried her embarrassed face into her hands.


	46. Chapter 46

_Author's Notes: This part is a little bit fillerish. Wasn't supposed to be but it ended up being too long to go to the next event anyway. Oh to my American readers, Happy Fourth of July!_

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-six

By Relm

Amelia sat in her chair nervously with evident distress on her face. She was waiting to meet her sister for coffee at Amelia's usual coffee shop.

Naga was late of course but Amelia had expected that. Naga was always late so it was doubtful the actress was the cause for Amelia's distress.

Amelia's eyes kept bouncing back between the pretty blond man behind the counter making coffee and her cell phone laying on the table in front of her. In the back of her mind the conversation she had between her co-workers had previously replayed over and over again.

Today Amelia was going to see the opening of Naga's new play. And though Amelia had been promised the day off she still had to work due to the theatre being a possible demonic book location. In reality it didn't bother Amelia that she had to work as a people eating book was a great concern after all. She was never one to turn her back on responsibility after all. What was bothering Amelia was the conversation about who would be going with Amelia to see the play.

Though not intentionally meaning to Sylphiel had hit the nail right on the head with her comment. There were two guys she had in mind that she could invite. One was making coffee just a few feet away from her and the other had his number in Amelia's contact list on her phone.

Bachelor number one or 'coffee shop guy' as Lina and Filia had dubbed him was indeed cute. He was average to tall in height with an average to broad build and always had a warm smile gracing his face. He was blond and his hair was just past his shoulders in length and he always had it tied back in a ponytail. His eyes were a sparkling shade of blue and could make any girl want to get lost in them. It was a good thing too, as this blond coffee god tended to be both forgetful and clumsy. If he wasn't dropping orders on the floor he was messing them up. But no one minded really. Most just came for the charming man's smile.

Amelia felt herself blush as her eyes drifted to the blond man. She knew from reading his name tag that his name was Silas but other than that she knew nothing else. It was doubtful that Silas even knew Amelia's name even though she did tell him it every time she ordered her coffee. He'd ask, she'd tell him and he would write her name on the cup before making her drink. Amelia always got butterflies in her stomach when she looked at Silas' artfully messy handwriting. He never dotted the 'i' in Amelia's name with a simple dot. No Silas drew a star. For someone who believed herself to be a 'star' of justice this just really tickled her pink.

In the back of Amelia's mind she knew that he probably did this will all the names he wrote but ever in denial Amelia chose to believe it was because she was special. But as special as Amelia might think herself to be she didn't figure that Silas would be so quick to agree to go to a play with a girl he had only ever served coffee to. Besides Amelia was old fashioned anyway. In her mind the boy should ask the girl to the first date.

Bachelor number two was a guy by the name of Pokota. Well Pokota wasn't actually his full name but that's what he preferred to be called anyway. The two had gone to university together sharing a lot the same classes. Though Pokota went to school in Sailune his family was actually from Tarforashia. Like Amelia, Pokota's father was also into politics and was the mayor too. Pokota had only meant to stay in Sailune for school but when he had finished he decided that he wanted to stay in the bustling city. Amelia knew that Pokota was into business in some fashion though she had no idea what Pokota was doing for a living. The two had lost touch since graduating. She still had his cell phone number in her own phone and inviting him to go see a play with her was a great way to catch up. However it also seemed a little too 'serious' for Amelia even if she did ask him under the guise of going as friends.

While in school Amelia had nursed a bit of a crush on Pokota. She never really acted upon it given that Pokota had been likely to go back to Tarforashia after school was done. He never did go back but Amelia still opted to keep her feelings at bay. She liked the friendship she had with Pokota and didn't want to potentially ruin it.

Unbeknownst to Amelia Pokota too had be holding a torch. Ever the painfully shy one around the fairer sex Pokota never could muster up any courage to ask Amelia out. And after knowing each other for too long the pair had already treaded into the dreaded 'friend' territory.

With either decision Amelia was still uneasy about the reaction she would get. She barely knew Silas so what reason would he have to say yes? And Pokota... well with him it wasn't so much as of worry he'd turn her down but whether or not he was available. Hell he could have a girlfriend.

Amelia was quick to frown at that fleeting thought. She didn't want to think it but it did seem pretty plausible. Pokota was a very nice guy. And even though nice guys did tend to finish last they didn't stay single forever.

'Gwah... what am I going to do?' Amelia mentally grumbled letting her head fall to the table in defeat.

"Looks like you really need that coffee sissy! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Naga boomed as she 'bounced' her way over to Amelia's table.

"It's about time you got here!" Amelia grumbled as Naga sat down across from her.

"My my so grumpy Ame!"

"Well I have been waiting and I-"

"Wait wait!" Naga dismissed Amelia. "You may start prattling on after I have been served my beverage."

"Gracia, this isn't a restaurant! It's a coffee shop! You have to go the counter, order and pay!" Amelia exclaimed in exasperation.

Naga didn't answer she just flashed Amelia a saucy wink and low and behold Silas appeared before them with a china mug in hand.

"Here's you go Miss Naga!" Silas beamed happily placing the hot beverage on the table in front of her.

"Thank you." Naga smirked watching Silas' but as the blond man walked away.

Amelia just sat there dumbfounded. "How...?"

"OHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Was all that Naga said in response to Amelia's one word question.

Amelia frowned. Silas always had to ask her what her name was but her sister didn't even need to say a word and she had him waiting on her. It was irritating to say the least.

Naga raised an eyebrow at her sister's obvious annoyance. "OHOHOHOHO! Something has got you bothered! Do tell sissy!"

Amelia rolled her eyes. "How do you do that?"

"What?"

"That!" Amelia motioned to the coffee. "He can never remember my name but for you he's got right what you want ready for you right as you sit down!"

Naga smirked and stretched in her chair catching the eye of several men in the coffee shop. "When you look this good it's hard for men to resist. OHOHOHOHO! But seriously he is a doll but he doesn't have everything I want. I've become... particular in my tastes. So if you want him you can have him." Fishing a flask from her purse Naga poured a dark amber liquid into her coffee before taking a sip.

Amelia let out a sigh and attempted to ignore what Naga had just put into her coffee. "No I think I've made up my mind." She pulled back out her cell phone and texted a message.

With her interest perked Naga tried to peer over to see who and what Amelia was texting. "Who's Pokota?"

Amelia brought her phone back close to her to shield it from her sister. "Never you mind that!"

"Oh does little Amelia have a boyfriend?" Naga teased with a bevy of giggles erupting out of her.

"He's just a friend." Amelia grumbled. "I haven't seen him in a while and I thought he might want to come with me to your play tonight."

A rather large wicked grin tugged at Naga's lips as she glanced at her younger sister. "But he wasn't your only date choice was he?" Her eyes traveled over to the Silas.

"It's not a date!" Amelia insisted. "We're just friends!"

"Yeah just like I'm just friends with that delicious man who will be ravishing me after my show tomorrow. OHOHOHOHOHO!"

Amelia frowned in disgust. "Gracia! I don't need to hear that!"

"Oh he is delicious sissy! He's got such a deep growling voice that sounds so sexy when he's mad! And his arms are so big and strong I feel like he could crush me with them. Oh and his butt is-"

"I REALLY DON'T NEED TO HEAR THIS!" Amelia near shouted at her.

"Aww! Is little sissy jealous? Don't worry. Just wear something slutty tonight and then you'll get to snuggle up with your little friend afterwards. OHOHOHOHOHO!"

"He hasn't said yes yet and I'm going to wear something nice not slutty!" Amelia hissed. She spied a quick look at her phone to see if she had gotten any new messages. Still showed none.

"Oh well I guess I'll be the only one snuggling this weekend." Naga let out a girlish giggle while putting her hands to her blushing red face.

This sight was one that really made Amelia's eyes go wide and her body shudder. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister?"

Naga glared at Amelia. "Oh poo don't be so silly Ame!"

"You're never like this. You aren't a girlie girl Gracia! So why are you acting like this? What is it about Mister Val that's so special?"

"Well I had started to tell you but then you shushed me! OHOHOHOHOHO! Don't ask the details if you don't have the stomach to hear them."

"Is it... just because of the... um... you know?"

"Know what?"

"...the sex?"

"OHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Naga's laugh boomed loudly throughout the coffee shop. "The sex was glorious I'll tell you that! He is a god after all. But no it's not just that. I told you he's delicious."

Amelia just shook her head. "Anyway I know I've been asking you this over and over but have you noticed anything strange at the theatre?"

Naga rolled her eyes. "My silly little sissy. No there aren't any people eating books floating around my theatre."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes yes!" Naga waved her hands in the air to emphasise her point.

"Well just so you know I am going to have to bring some of my equipment tonight to the play just to make sure."

"Are you going to wear the Ghost Slayer jumpsuit? Because if you do make sure you don't zip it up all the way so you can show off your cleavage. Wear a good push up bra to enhance them too. If the girls look good then your little man will be putty in your hands." Naga winked suggestively at her.

"I'm not going to wear my jumpsuit! And he hasn't even said yes yet!" Amelia growled. But just as she said that her cell phone beeped with an incoming text message. "He said yes. He said YES!"

"Of course he said yes. You are my sister after all and you have just as much potential to be sexy like me. OHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

"Anyway as I said I will be bringing some of my equipment with me tonight. Do you think you can get me back stage after the play so I can take some readings?"

"I told you there's no book! But if you must I'll see what I can do. Though I make no promises." Naga insisted.

"Fine. It's not that we know for sure where the book is. Miss Lina just wants me to check just in case. Though I have no idea what to do if the book is actually there." Amelia shivered at the thought. "It's just so terrifying to think about! Books are supposed to be used for learning not attacking people!"

"Hmmm... Does that mean that what you do for a living... is a real thing?"

Amelia blinked in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Well ghosts aren't supposed to be real... I just figured you made up all this Ghost Slayer business to get attention."

"What? Ghosts are real Gracia! How can you suggest such a thing?"

Naga shrugged. "Maybe I should come by your work one day and you can show me one a ghost! Ooooh! That would be exciting! OHOHOHOHOHO!"

"Somehow I don't think you showing up would go over well with Miss Lina or Miss Filia." Amelia mumbled under her breath.

"Oh Lina is your boss! I forgot! It would be so good to see my rival once more! I'm sure she's just green with envy because I'm a huge bright star and she isn't! OHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Naga gloated.

"No Gracia I don't think Miss Lina is jealous. She didn't want to become an actress..."

"Of course she couldn't have even if she wanted to. Why she was just dreadful!"

"Didn't she get the lead over you in that school play-"

"That is not even worth mentioning! I was just a child and it was clear that the director favoured her. If it were based on pure talent and not politics then I would have gotten the role!" Naga announced sticking her head up high.

"Sure sure Gracia..."

"And who is this Filia person? Why would she not be happy to see me?"

"I work with her remember? Mister Val is her step-brother...? Does this not ring any bells with you...?" Amelia prompted her.

"Oh! Well she would have to adore me. Her step-brother already does." Again Naga erupted into girlish giggles.

And again Amelia shuddered.

_(Author's Notes: When I had mentioned a blond man in the last part I didn't really have an idea who that would be that Lina, Filia and Amelia would be fawning over. And when starting this part the only person I could think of was Milgazia. It didn't seem like a good fit. But as I started writing I thought about it and ended up going with an OC. Not one of my, but rather an OC of a friend of mine to whom I used to co-write fanfics with. That would be Carbunkle Garnet. Silas is one of many characters he created for Gourry's family. (Silas being Gourry's younger brother) Carbunkle never cares if I borrow his characters so I thought why the heck not? But yeah Silas isn't going to be a proper character in this story as it is. Referenced maybe but otherwise this is it.)_


	47. Chapter 47

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-seven

By Relm

Pokota was nervous as he looked at himself in the mirror trying to decide what to wear. Earlier in the day he had been blindsided by a simple text that had turned his brain into mush for most of the day. That text message had been from his university crush, the beautiful, sweet and kind Amelia Sailune whom he had not seen since school.

The text hadn't been particularly long or serious. It was just a couple simple sentences. A question, _'I've got two tickets to my sister's opening play tonight. Do you want to come with me?' _

Though this wasn't exactly definite date proposal that didn't stop Pokota from staring at his phone with disbelief. He hadn't heard from Amelia in so long that he actually forgot that she had his phone number. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing on his phone. This was partially the reason why Pokota failed to respond right away to the text. His brain was still in denial that he had gotten a text message from Amelia. But even when his mind finally wrapped the idea around his head he couldn't let him respond right away. If he responded too quickly then it showed that he was either too eager or that he had no life. What kind of attractive and successful man was so easily available for a sudden Friday night outing? No he had to make it look like he had to do some rearranging to say yes to her question. Or least that's what he was thinking as he waited to answer.

Truthfully Pokota didn't have a life outside work. Right out of university he had been headhunted by a big corporation that promised him a good steady job with good steady pay. While in school Pokota had played around with the idea of staying in Sailune and not going back to Tarforashia when he finished and this job offer cemented the idea. It wasn't as if Pokota was opposed to going back home, he did love Tarforashia after all but there were many other reasons to stay in Sailune.

The biggest one was that there was no pressure in Sailune. He could and be the person he wanted to be without anyone telling him otherwise. If Pokota had gone back home then he was sure he would get pushed into politics somehow. That was what his father was into and what his father's father had done and his father's father's father and so on. Pokota's family had been the mayor of Tarforashia for several generations. Their family was so trusted in Tarforashia that they wouldn't ever dare vote against someone from Pokota's family in favor of picking another candidate. If Pokota went home he would somehow get roped into being a future mayor of Tarforashia.

Pokota hated politics. He hated the campaigns, learning all the laws, giving speeches, and all the tedious paperwork that had to signed. Watching his father work while growing up had bored Pokota to tears. Pokota wasn't opposed to being a leader and motivating people but being the mayor was more about moderating budgets and small legal feuds than leading. The job just didn't appeal to Pokota.

Amelia was the same way. She didn't want to become a mayor like her father. This was part of the reason why Pokota and Amelia had gotten along so famously. Both of them wanted to break free from their own respect family's businesses and be their own people. However Amelia's profession was more true to her calling than Pokota's. Amelia wanted to help people and that's exactly what she did. Pokota on the other hand wasn't leading and motivating like he wanted.

Pokota had studied accounting and small business in university with dreams of starting his own company. He hadn't decided what sort of company it would be but he knew he wanted to charity work on the side. Then of course Vectek, a huge corporation offered him a job right out of school and he thought it would be a good idea to work there to build up his funds while he decided what he wanted to do.

Years had gone by and still Pokota was working for Vectek. Technically he was billed as being the assistant to the regional manager of finances and equity but really he was a secretary/accountant or 'the office gofer'. Basically he was the errand boy who got what the manager wanted and did the paperwork that no one else wanted to do. Pokota hated the job as it ate up lots of life but once he had gotten settled in it was hard to get out off.

Pokota blamed his job for his lack of a social life. He spent long hours at work and when he got home he was too tired to do anything but eat and sleep. He couldn't even rest on the weekend because he was always worrying about something going wrong at work.

A typical Friday for Pokota was going home, changing into some comfortable clothing, eating some dinner in front of the television and falling asleep on the couch. He was too tired to do anything else. But not so this Friday. After getting that text message from Amelia Pokota was full of nervous energy as he riffled his closet to find something nice to wear.

When you worked in an office having an ample amount of dress wear was a must. So Pokota had all kinds of suits, ties and shoes at his disposal. He had a suit for just about any kind of occasion. But should one wear a suit to an informal possibly pseudo date? Or should one dress more causally? Pokota wrestled with this as he kept rejecting the things he tried on. He soon discovered that his life really did revolve around work. Almost all of his clothing was suits. He had next to no casual wear. Mostly things he wore to bed and old clothing he bummed around in during the weekends. Nothing near respectable enough to wear to an opening of the play whether it was a date or not.

So suit it was by process of elimination. But not a full three piece suit. He opted not to wear a vest or tie but even then that didn't help him make his decision. What colour pants/suit should he wear? And with what colour shirt? Did he go conservative with a classic look or did he go more daring with a more fashion forward style?

The end result had Pokota going with a black suit and a dark blue shirt and black shoes. He had no vest nor did he wear a tie. Though not entirely sure of his outfit Pokota decided enough was enough; he wasn't going to change again. So with his stomach buzzing with bundles of nervous energy he finished getting ready so he could leave.

...

Amelia looked around the streets outside the Sailune theatre nervously as she stood just outside the line to get into the building. She had texted Pokota back and forth a few times to give him the exact time and place she was going to meet him. Amelia had been sure by the responses she had gotten from Pokota that he was definitely going to come but the time of her watch was begging to differ.

The play was going to start in fifteen minutes and Amelia had asked Pokota to show up at the theatre a half before the play started. That way the two of them could sit and catch up before the play started. However Pokota was fifteen minutes late and hadn't messaged Amelia to let her know he was going to be late.

Thinking about her phone Amelia pulled it out of her purse to look it over once more. Still no new messages and no missed calls. She had already texted him a few times enquiring about why he was late and where he was. And since he hadn't responded to those questions Amelia didn't see the point in texting him again.

A thought did come to Amelia's mind as she put her phone away again. Perhaps she was being stood up. It had been awhile since Amelia had talked to Pokota. Perhaps it was too presumptuous to believe that Pokota would be so willing to go see a play with her after all this time. Maybe she had wrong him somehow and forgot and this was how he was paying her back.

This line of thinking had Amelia's brain going off in all kinds of paranoid tangents that were not likely to be silenced until Pokota showed his face. But at ten minutes to show time Amelia was really doubting Pokota would show at all.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Pokota puffed as he came running down the street. "It's murder trying to find parking around here!"

Happy nervous butterflies nipped the paranoid ones out of Amelia's gut as she faced Pokota with the largest of smiles. She was happy to see him but her happy smile turned into one of surprise once she got a good look at Pokota. The Pokota she remembered wore simple casual clothing and was practically the same height as Amelia. This Pokota was taller, broader and dressed in a nice suit. He looked handsome and successful despite the fact that he was huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath. "You've... changed..." Amelia mumbled unconsciously.

"Oh." Pokota shrunk under Amelia's stare. "For the better I'm hoping." He said playfully while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Yes, yes of course! You look very good, I mean nice. You look very nice. I like your suit." Amelia stumbled her way into that answer. Suddenly she was very flustered and she was sure by the hot feeling in her face that she was blushing.

Pokota was also blushing. "You look really nice too. Very pretty."

Amelia was wearing a dark blue dress that was modest yet flattering. The dress was sleeveless and the hem fell just above her knees. Since it was still quite warm out Amelia had opted for an icy blue wrap instead of a jacket that hung loosely on her arms. Amelia could have taken her sister's advice and went for something that was a bit more revealing but she just didn't feel right about doing that. If Pokota was going to like her as more than a friend it be because she was being herself and not pretending to be something else. "Thank you."

"What do you have there with you?" Pokota wondered looking at the strange contraption in Amelia's large purse.

"Oh that?" Amelia laughed nervously. "It's just something from work."

"Work? Didn't you go off to work for Professor Inverse?"

"Yes that's right." Again nervous laughter bubbled out of Amelia.

"What exactly is Professor Inverse's business again?"

Amelia cringed at this question. She was sure that Pokota knew what she did for a living but clearly if he did he forgot. Amelia wanted to be proud and say that she slayed ghosts for a living but she couldn't. Given that most of the world believed that ghosts didn't exist Amelia was often met with skepticism when she told people what she did for a living. "It's called 'Ghost Slayers'. We go to people's homes and businesses to remove any ghosts haunting them."

"Ghosts... are real...?" Pokota's eyes blinked rapidly as he tried to process what he was hearing.

Amelia nodded solemnly.

"And you've seen them...?"

"Yes."

"Wow... And you think there's a ghost in the theatre?"

Amelia shrugged. "Probably. Lots of dramatic actors and actresses like to haunt the stages they acted on before they died. But usually those ones are just drama queens and are mostly harmless."

More blinking from Pokota. "Is that why you've brought that thing in your purse? Because of the ghosts in the theatre?"

"Oh no. Even if there is ghosts here I'm not going to do anything about them. That's not the reason why I've brought my scanner."

"So what is the reason?"

"It's complicated. It has to do with a case we're working on. There may or may not be an evil book in the theatre and I'm just bringing my scanner to see if it comes up with anything odd."

"Evil book huh? Hopefully it won't attack us. Sounds scary. Maybe you can tell me about it during the first intermission." Pokota suggested as he and Amelia made their way into the theatre. In the back of Pokota's mind he was feeling just a bit jealous of Amelia. If what she was saying was true and ghosts did exist then Amelia's life was far more interesting than his.

"I doubt the book is here. I've been asking my sister repeatedly and swears it isn't here." Amelia waved off any concerns.

"Your sister is the lead actress in this play?"

"Yup. She's the reason why I got the tickets."

"So is she any good?"

Amelia cringed again. "She's very... enthusiastic."

Pokota let out a hearty laugh. "Good play or bad play it's still nice to see you and get a chance to catch up. It's a nice diversion from my humdrum life."

...

As it turned out by the time the first intermission came round it was clear that this play was actually shaping out to be pretty good. Naga was a much better actress than Amelia had originally thought. Clearly the elder Sailune sister was more professional than the last time Amelia had seen her act. She was actually impressed and extremely proud of her sister.

As far as her scanner went Amelia did from time to time pull it out to take readings. However since she was limited to scanning from her seat the readings she got coincided with being in normal room full of people. That and Amelia wasn't even sure what sort of readings she would need to look for when it came to looking for a demonic people eating book.

"Your sister is a pretty good actress." Pokota mused once the curtain went down. "Though that costume she's wearing is way too revealing. I know it has to do a lot with how her character is supposed to be but personally I like it better when a woman dresses a little more conservatively."

"Even if the costume she had to wear wasn't revealing my sister would find some way to make it show off more. That's just the kind of person she is. She loves to show off what she's got."

"I'll bet she's probably obnoxious."

"Well..." Amelia shrugged not really wanting to say the truth out loud.

This answer caused Pokota to laugh. "Okay enough about your sister. Tell me about this evil book you're looking for."

"Well it all started with a job we got at Sailune Publishing..."


	48. Chapter 48

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-eight

By Relm

It took the whole first intermission for Amelia to tell Pokota the whole story about Zelgadis and the evil people eating book. It greatly surprised Pokota and made him very envious. Her life sounded a thousand times more interesting than his. He had so many questions to ask her about Ghost Slayers but he didn't get a chance to as the play came back on. As interesting as the play was it didn't hold a candle to listening to Amelia talk.

The curtains opened and the scene began playing out. Naga was on stage with a few of the other actors. The last scene of the first act had ended on a cliff hanger making this scene very important and the focus of everyone in the theatre. Or it would be except one person was just having trouble keeping focused and that was Pokota. His eyes kept darting between the stage and Amelia. Every time Amelia took out her scanner to take some readings Pokota's eyes were glued to the machine. He really wanted to try out the scanner. Boys and their toys...

With each line on stage Pokota found himself looking at his watch more and more. Hoping that the act would go faster and it would be over soon. But alas time was a cruel mistress that only went fast when you didn't want it to and slowed down when things were lagging on.

Every time Naga spoke Pokota found himself cringing. Though the actress at first seemed beautiful and talented was now more annoying than anything. Pokota found her voice snotty and condescending and though she was tall and voluptuous he couldn't help but mentally compare her to a drag queen. Where those boobs even real?

After what seemed like eons the curtains closed signalling the end of the second act and the beginning of the second intermission. Following the second intermission will be the third and final act.

"Wow that was dramatic scene!" Amelia exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah so how does the scanner work?" Pokota peered over at the device sitting in Amelia's lap.

"Well it's somewhat of an opposite of a thermal energy scanning device. It looks for voids instead where the temperatures are really cold. Because spectres absorb heat leaving the area colder." She turned on the scanner and showed him.

"Can we go try it out in another area?" Pokota asked all too eagerly.

"That's probably a good idea. We should get up and stretch our legs anyway." Amelia said stifling a giggle. She had initially been afraid to tell Pokota what she did for a living because she feared he would make fun of her. But as it was Pokota was extremely interested in her line of work. It filled her with pride. "Did you want to try?" She offered him the scanner once they had walked to the side wall of the theatre.

"Really? You trust me with it?"

"Sure. You're always good with gadgets so I know you won't break it. But even if you do Miss Filia can easily fix it." Amelia assured him.

"Okay. So I turn this dial here right?"

Amelia nodded.

Right away the scanner came to life with all kinds of lights. If the sound on the device was turned on it would have made all kinds of noise at that moment.

"What did I do?" Pokota looked at Amelia and the device in a panic.

"Don't worry it's supposed to do that." Amelia assured him.

"What does all the lights mean?"

"Oh that there's at least one ghost nearby." Amelia stated matter-of-factly.

That statement started Pokota so much that he almost dropped the scanner. "There is?!" He looked around in a panic.

"Yes. But it's low threat level ghost. So don't get all frightened. Barely enough to even move a piece of paper. Probably just hangs around to watch the plays." Amelia rationalized.

"I'm not scared." Pokota exclaimed defensively.

Amelia couldn't help but giggle.

...

Backstage Naga flopped down in her chair in her dressing room while throwing the props she had in hand haphazardly down. One of those props being the very book that Amelia was trying to find. Though the book radiated evil energy Naga seemed to be oblivious to its power. But Naga wasn't exactly pure as the freshly fallen white snow as it was so perhaps she was just too evil herself to notice.

The evil book was getting tired of being tossed about and it was making it very angry. It wanted revenge, it wanted blood and screams. But the woman had the oddest luck making it very hard for the book to get close. Even now the book was too far from the actress to reach out and grab her.

"Now time for the third act pick me up! OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga fished out a corkscrew and a bottle of red wine she had stashed away in a drawer in her vanity. Not one to care about being civilized when alone Naga popped the cork and drank straight from the bottle.

After drinking about a quarter of the bottle Naga stopped for air relishing in the warm feeling the wine was trailing down her throat.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga belted out a god awful laugh as she twirled around in her chair spilling a bit of the wine in the process.

Some of that spilt wine found its way onto the evil book. The red of the wine bled in with the red of the ink making it glow a very fiery shade. The book was mad really mad.

Naga didn't see this display of anger she just drank more wine till only half the bottle remained. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Time to get changed!" Naga got up from her chair while dizzy from the spinning. Her loss of motor skills caused her to knock over a few things which caused a cascade reaction knocking all kinds of things onto the floor. Included with this big messy pile was the evil book. It fell in the space between the wall and the vanity. Naga cared little for the mess and just went on changing. Even after she was ready Naga failed to notice the evil book that she was using as a prop was missing. She just twirled out of her dressing room leaving the book behind.

...

Doing random scans around the theatre during the second intermission didn't yield any evil book sightings but proved to be interesting for Pokota and Amelia. To Amelia the ghost thing was old hat but to Pokota it was new and exhilarating. The pair found at least four different spectres. Of the four ghosts only one of them was powerful enough to see. It was only for a brief moment but they saw a figure smoking a cigar while sitting in the broken seat at the very back of the theatre. He smiled at them both and tipped his hat before fading away.

A quick conversation with one of the theatre ushers explained that no matter how many times they tried to fix that seat it was always broken come show time. The usher had laughed it off stating it was probably a ghost who kept breaking the chair. Little did the usher know that it was actually the truth.

Even though Pokota and Amelia were back in their seats ready to watch the third and final act Pokota couldn't help but look back at the empty seat at the back of the theatre.

"I can't believe there's a ghost sitting there right next to those people and they have no idea at all!" Pokota exclaimed while shaking his head in disbelief.

"They are probably thinking it's just a draft but yeah they probably don't know. Oh the general public's innocence. If only they knew just how many ghosts there were surrounding them they would all go into a massive panic." Amelia joked while giggling.

"I'm surprised the theatre hasn't called you guys in get rid of the ghosts."

"I'm not. All the great theatres out there are hunted. When everything is said and done and people stop going to plays in favor of going to movies it's going to be the novelty factor of ghosts that will keep places like this going." Amelia stated very sagely. "Plus the ghosts add to history of this theatre."

"I'll tell you I'll never be able to look at an old building the same way again." Pokota admitted with a shiver. Yes he found the whole thing creepy but in a good way.

Amelia let a chuckle. "You're not the first one to say that to me."

"Sorry we didn't find your book."

"It's okay. This only one of several places it could be anyway. To be honest I'm glad I haven't found it yet. What the heck would I do if I did find it?" Amelia let out a shudder.

"I have no idea."

The curtains opened once more and the play resumed. Pokota and Amelia settled back into their chairs and tried to finish watching the show. Of course it was easier said than done as both of them had things on their mind distracting them. For Pokota it was the ghosts floating around the theatre and for Amelia it was horrors a rogue demonic book terrorizing the city.

...

Despite the lead actress being somewhat drunk the play went along swimmingly. Naga delivered each line perfectly without even slurring a single word. It was amazing that Naga could manage to do such a thing but then again this was the great Naga actress extraordinaire. Even drunk she could still give a performance of a lifetime. (Actually Naga was a better actress when she was drunk rather than sober.)

At the end almost everyone was standing up cheering for the cast and crew, applauding the wonderful performance. Probably the only one that wasn't so impressed was Amelia. The younger Sailune sister was frowning at her sister's acting.

Amelia could tell from the way Naga carried herself on stage that something was different. Her older sister had been drinking. Yes she was aware her sister had a bit of a problem and usually she was okay with that but drinking while she was working? That just pushed Amelia's boundaries too far.

"Why are you frowning?" Pokota asked while clapping.

"She was drinking before she started act three." Amelia mumbled disapprovingly.

"Well acting on stage in front of a while roomful of people can be nerve racking so why is so strange that had a little bit to drink to calm her nerves? And besides it wasn't like she was drinking throughout the last act." Pokota rationalized.

Amelia pressed her lips together in a tighter frown but said nothing. She had a feeling that it wasn't coloured water Naga was drinking during her scenes.

"So we're going to get to go back stage right?"

Amelia nodded. "Possibly. My sister said she was going to try and get us back there. We'll have to wait and see."

There was much talking amongst people as the theatre slowly emptied out. A few stayed behind waiting hoping to talk to a star or two. Some were adoring fans while others were just friends and family of the crew. Amelia and Pokota were amongst these people waiting. There was no telling how much time they were going to have to wait.

"Sissy!" Naga called out booming her way out to aisles with her arms outstretched.

"Gracia!" Amelia embraced her older sister in a typical Sailune family bone crushing hug.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Tell me who's the brightest star in all the world?! You don't have to since I know it's me! OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed with head held high.

Pokota inwardly cringed at the sound of Naga's laugh. It was annoying to say the least.

"You did wonderful Gracia. It was a great play." Amelia beamed.

"Yes it was a very good show." Pokota added.

Naga was about to jump into another stream of laughs when she stopped to take a good look at her little sister's date. "Well, well look what we have here. Oh sissy he is yummy. Maybe not as yummy as my delicious fashion accessory but this one almost as good. OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!"

Pokota immediately blushed in embarrassment. Amelia's face matched making a perfectly reddened pair.

"This is Pokota." Amelia introduced him to Naga. "And Pokota this is my sister, Gracia. Or as you and the rest of the public know her, Naga."

Naga gave Pokota a saucy little wink before turning around. "Alright my little pretties let's go. You wanted to see the back so going back we are."

"Are you sure it's okay? There are no problems with us going backstage?" Amelia wondered out loud as she and Pokota fallowed Naga towards the back.

"Meh. I could care less what the silly director says. I'm Naga the White Serpent and I go wherever the hell I want! OHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga bellowed throwing her head back dramatically.

"Gracia are you drunk?" Amelia frowned at her sister.

"Of course! I'm an artist. I need my muse!" Naga declared. "And my muse is red and liquidy. OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!"

Amelia just rolled her eyes and pulled out her scanner. There was a lot of activity on the stage proving there were more than four ghosts in the theatre. This was to be expected so Amelia just kept scanning. She checked the all over the stage, in the wings and in the props and costume closets. Amelia found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Did you find anything Amelia?" Pokota asked looking over Amelia's shoulder.

"This theatre is way more haunted than I thought..." Amelia mumbled more to herself than to Pokota.

"FANTASTIC! OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed.

Amelia's scanner responded to Naga's laughing proving that even ghosts were repelled by her sister's laughter.

"What about the book?" Pokota prompted her while ignoring Naga.

Amelia shook her head. "Nope, looks all clear."

"See sissy! I told you. You should always listen to your smart, sexy older sister! OHOHOHOHOH!"

Amelia frowned. 'Well at least this is one place Miss Lina can cross off her list...'


	49. Chapter 49

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Forty-nine

By Relm

"So there's nothing there?" Lina asked Amelia over breakfast. It was Saturday morning and the whole Ghost Slayers crew (and the transparent victims) were gathered around at a table in Ghost Slayers HQ eating breakfast from that nearby diner. Usually Ghost Slayers was closed on the weekends but given the special circumstances surrounding the evil book they were tracking the crew was pulling in over time. That and the thought of leaving Zelgadis, Gourry and Xellos alone with Slimer at HQ the whole weekend didn't sound like a good idea.

"Well Miss Lina there are things there." Amelia mused while taking a bite out of her toast. "There are lots of ghosts lingering around the theatre but if the book is there I couldn't find it."

"At least that's one less place we need to worry about." Sylphiel added while drinking her coffee.

"How can I eat this?" Gourry wondered as he tried to grab a breakfast sandwich. It was in vain however as his hand kept going through it.

"You don't. We don't have our bodies so we don't need to eat." Zelgadis explained as he re-read the newspaper he had on his possession. He had read the thing a million times already but reading a newspaper over breakfast did make him feel more like a normal person and less like a ghost like thing. Now if he could only drink a cup of coffee...

"But I want to eat it!" Gourry whined.

"Are you even hungry?"

"No..."

"Then why does it matter?!" Zelgadis barked at him.

Gourry shrunk down in his chair defeated. To see all this lovely food and know that he couldn't eat it was torture.

Slimer wasn't helping things as he was gobbling up anything he could get his hands on. Just a reminder that Gourry wasn't a real ghost.

"Miss Amelia to whom did you go the theatre with?" Xellos piped up with just a bit of mischievousness to his voice.

"Yes that's right! Who was the lucky man?" Filia added just as eagerly.

Amelia blushed bright crimson. "Why should I tell you guys? That's not important at all!"

"Oh but it is!" Both Lina and Filia said in unison.

"Miss Lina, Miss Filia leave Amelia alone." Sylphiel chided. "You two don't need to know who her date was."

"Yes we do!" Again Lina and Filia said in unison.

"Was it blond haired coffee shop guy?" Lina prompted Amelia.

"Or was it your school friend?" Filia finished it off.

"Hmm... I think I have a brother that works in a coffee shop..." Gourry mumbled as he tapped his chin.

"You remembered something Gourry?" Sylphiel exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah... yeah I did! Silas! His name's Silas."

The name Silas struck a chord with all the females in the room. Now thinking back on it the 'coffee shop guy' did look an awful lot like Gourry...

Suddenly the cute coffee shop guy didn't look so cute anymore... At least three of the girls in the room shuddered.

"No I didn't go out with the guy from the coffee shop." Amelia clarified with a huff. "I asked my school friend Pokota. I asked him because I hadn't seen him in a long time and I just wanted to catch up."

"And by catching up do you mean making out in the backseat of his corolla?" Filia smirked while winking at Amelia.

"There was no kissing!" Amelia fumed. "We met at the theatre, watched the play, did some scans around the building and then went to a diner to have dessert. After that we went our separate ways!"

"No goodnight kiss?"

"No!"

"What a boring date..." Lina mumbled shaking her head.

"It wasn't a date!" Amelia screamed.

"Leave Amelia alone!" Sylphiel ordered. "We have far more pressing things to worry about than her love life." She walked over to the map and took a marker to it crossing out Sailune Theatre.

"That leaves the train station, the museum, the park, the hospital and the church." Lina listed off. "Still too many locations to pick from..."

"What do you want to do now Miss Lina?" Sylphiel wondered while looking back at her boss.

"Well the museum won't let us take our equipment inside nor will the church despite being so accommodating otherwise. The hospital has too many ghosts to properly get readings and the park is too spaced out to figure out where the book could be. And the train station won't even let us go in." Lina grumbled.

"But what do you want to do?" Filia prompted.

"Ghost Slayers isn't usually open for business on the weekend so it's unlikely we'd get many calls as it is. So I figure we put the answering machine on and all four of us hit the park. We all can take one corner of the area and scan it." Lina decided.

"That could take day." Amelia reminded her.

"Yeah but at least that would be one less place to worry about." Lina rationalized.

"But shouldn't someone stay here to keep an eye on the guys?" Sylphiel motioned towards the others.

"It's okay Zel's here. He can watch things." Lina waved off Sylphiel's concerns.

"Excuse me Zelgadis is exactly the same as me and Gourry." Xellos protested. "What makes him above us that he would be deemed fit to babysit us?"

"He's responsible and can kick your ass." Lina said with a wiry smirk. "And he's been with us long enough that he's practically a Ghost Slayer already."

Slimer huffed crossing his arms in protest. He glared at Lina obviously insulted.

"You eat everything and destroy things! I'm not going to leave you in charge Slimer." Lina glared right back at Slimer.

Just for that Slimer spat out the slimy food he had in his mouth and let it fall on the table.

"I understand why you are upset but you are going to be cleaning up that mess." Lina pointed at the table.

Slimer shook his head.

Lina's glare intensified.

Slimer tried to out glare Lina but it was futile battle. He ended up breaking the stare and went to get a bucket and sponge.

"Finish up breakfast because we're leaving as soon as we're done." Lina announced as she stuffed her face full of waffles.

...

Naga let a yawn as she woke up that morning. For her waking up early was a rarity and she was puzzled as to why she wasn't asleep. Her alarm clock wasn't blaring (not that it was ever set to go off anyway), she didn't need to go the bathroom nor was the sun able to invade her room. She hadn't had a nightmare either so she had no idea why she was awake.

Switching on a light (as her room was in total darkness) Naga went to look at her alarm clock. It wasn't even the afternoon yet (because she rarely up before then) really making Naga mystified about why she was awake. Sitting on her nightstand next to her alarm clock was an elegant pink bottle looking ever so pretty. It caught Naga's eye immediately and a smile tugged at Naga's full lips. It was her newest perfume and Naga had yet to use it. It was an expensive little number that Naga got specially for tonight.

'I wonder what that handsome beast will do to me once he smells that seductive fragrance...' Just thinking about Val made Naga's skin tingle. She flopped back onto her bed closing her eyes happily thinking about what sort of night was to come. Even though her light was still one sleep overtook Naga once more.

...

Sailune Park was a large area for the Ghost Slayers crew to search. It wasn't just a little kid's playground, no it had much more. A good portion of the park was forest area with all kinds of winding trails for the delight of any weekend hiker. In the open areas there was a huge outdoor pool, four jungle gyms, four tennis courts, two basketball courts, a rolling skating rink, a stage for outdoor concerts and mini water park. Though Sylphiel's roughly sketched circle went through the centre of the park Lina wasn't about to leave any stone unturned. Each of the four was assigned one corner of the park to scan and check. They would start on the outside working their way towards the middle.

Ordinarily such an assignment would be a welcome one on a Saturday morning/afternoon. Who did love spending the day at the park? True a walk in the park was usually a pleasant experience not so on this particular day. As always Mother Nature was a temperamental creature and for whatever reason she was in another foul mood today. The skies were almost painted black with dark clouds that opened up raining down in cold sheets of hell.

Their equipment wasn't waterproof so Lina and company had to hold umbrellas while taking their readings. This wasn't an ideal thing to do and Filia, Amelia and Sylphiel made sure that Lina knew that. As it was when Lina had decided what they were going to do for the day it hadn't been raining. It started coming down almost right before they were about to leave. Lina had insisted that the rain will clear up. But of course it didn't. Still Lina insisted they keep going even when the rain got worse. Lina wanted to cross the park off their list and by golly they were going to cross it off today.

But with a thing like a book being vulnerable to things like fire and water the thought of the book picking an outdoor space didn't seem too likely. So checking all the outer areas of the four corners of the park didn't seem likely to yield good results. But again Lina wanted to be throughout.

So search on the foursome did till they got towards the center of the park. They had stopped only to eat lunch and were right back at it as soon as they were finished eating. As afternoon came and went night started to settle into the park. Rain paired up with darkness would not bode well for Lina's search so they had finish it up fast.

Lina quarter was the one that had the stage. It was near the center of the park so it was the perfect location for a hiding book in Lina's portion. Stepping onto the stage Lina got a wave of nostalgia reminding her of her days of acting in school plays. They would be happy memories if they weren't soured by the buxom annoyance that is Naga the White Serpent.

With a slight shudder Lina tried to push all thoughts of her old classmate and went to scanning the stage area. This was in vain as Lina was getting nothing. 'Well unless Sylphiel, Amelia or Filia found something then the park is clear.'

...

About twenty minutes before show time Naga couldn't help but take a peek at the audience. There were less people sitting waiting to watch the play than the previous day though that's not why Naga was looking. She was scanning the masses looking for one aqua haired devil. At first she didn't seem to see him but as she got to the first couple rows she spotted him. Val was sitting in the middle of the third row looking as yummy as ever. He had on another beautifully tailored suit that matched the perfect scowl he had on his face.

Biting back a giggle Naga retreated and left the stage. She went down the stairs to the dressing rooms and went in her own personal room. Naga needed to make sure she looked perfect for her angry beast. Sitting down at her vanity Naga fussed over her looks completely oblivious to anything around her.

The once discarded evil book was on the floor lay partially open in the space between the vanity and the sidewall divider the vanity was up against. With the pages only open a bit the book had trouble extending its bloody red glowing hand to reach out. It wanted blood as always but it would not be satisfied till it got Naga's blood. She had been so frustrating to the book. The woman had dumb luck in spades! But now it would have what it wanted. Reaching out the book's hand was just inches away from Naga's ankle. Just a little bit more and the evil book's fingers graze her skin. That's all the book needed just the barest of touches and he would have her. Just a little more and...

Naga swung her feet around in her chair and got up to leave. "It's show time! OHOHOHOHOHO! My public awaits!" She glided out of her room buzzing with energy. She knew it was going to be a good show and she couldn't wait till what would happen afterwards. "Maybe I'll sneak him into here during one of the intermissions..." She said to herself in a naughty voice as she turned out the light and disappeared through the other dressing rooms into the hallway and back up the stairs towards the stage.

The evil book on the floor was almost glowing completely red with anger. Foiled again! Well this wasn't going to sit well with the book, no it wasn't. Whether she was alone or not the next time she got close it was going to attack. It will get its blood not matter what the cost.


	50. Chapter 50

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty

By Relm

After completely searching the park Lina and company had headed back to Ghost Slayers HQ to have dinner and talk over what they were going to do next.

"So the park was a complete bust huh?" Zelgadis mused as he watched the way the Ghost Slayers ate their fast food burger and fries dinner. The conversation was light with Lina and company and the mindless way they shoveled their food into their mouth showed just how drained they were.

Lina tiredly turned away from her food to glare at Zelgadis. "Really? You think?" She rolled her eyes and then went back to eating.

"What place are you going to try next?"

"I suppose one of us could go check out the church tomorrow." Amelia suggested. "Even if they won't let us take out equipment we could go look around. I'm sure an evil people eating book would stand out like a sore thumb in a church."

"If you're fine with going to a church you don't even belong to on a Sunday then by all means Amelia go right ahead." Lina rolled her eyes again and took a big bite out of her burger.

Amelia let out a sigh and went to eat her fries but jumped in her seat when her hand went through Gourry's head. "Mister Gourry what are you doing?!"

"I want to eat..." Gourry whined. "But I can't touch them..."

"So you thought you'd put your whole head in my fries?!" Amelia's eyes were wide with mortification.

"It didn't work..." Gourry rested his head on the table with tears streaming down his face.

"Gourry are you even hungry?" Zelgadis snapped.

"No..."

"Then why the hell do you care?! You don't need to eat so quit trying!"

"But I want to eat! I like eating!" Gourry whined.

"There are more things to life besides eating!" Zelgadis yelled at Gourry.

"Since we're kind dead that point is rather moot." Xellos mused while repeatedly 'touching' Filia's food.

"Stop touching my food!" Filia screamed while trying to swat Xellos' hand away.

"I'm not touching it. My hand goes right through things. See?" Xellos resumed 'poking' Filia's food.

"Zelgadis can you hit him?" Filia whined.

Zelgadis just shook his head and sighed. "So why exactly can't you guys go to the train station? You said that this morning and it doesn't make sense to me and it's been bugging me all day."

"Well since we had been calling so much they kinda threatened to call the cops if anyone from Ghost Slayers calls or shows up at the train station." Filia explained while still glaring at Xellos.

"Then don't announce that you're from Ghost Slayers. They can't really call the cops on you if we're just people thinking of buying a train ticket." Zelgadis rationalized.

"Still wouldn't be able to take our equipment with us." Lina interjected.

"It sounds like you won't be able to take it no matter which location you go so why does it matter?" Zelgadis shot back.

"We can bring our equipment to the hospital." Amelia pointed out.

"Yes but with all the ghost activity at said hospital didn't you guys decide it would be pointless to try and scan the building?" Zelgadis was quick to point out.

"You're so logical you're almost a robot." Lina darkly laughed.

Zelgadis made a mocking face at Lina and then rolled his eyes.

"Okay tomorrow's game plan..." Lina got up and uncapped her sharpie and started writing on the map. "Amelia since you suggested it you're going to go the church. Filia you'll go to the train station incognito. Sylphiel you're going to hit the museum and I'll take the hospital."

"Do I have to go to the church?" Amelia whined.

"They already hate me at the train station they'll recognize my voice!" Filia also complained.

"Miss Filia why don't you go the church, Amelia you go the museum and I'll go the train station?" Sylphiel suggested. "Would that be okay?"

Both Amelia and Filia nodded.

"You know Lina there might be a better way to go about this evil book search..." Zelgadis trailed off while tapping a finger to his lips in thought.

"How exactly?"

"I don't exactly remember it too well but I had a bad reaction to the drawings of the book and the other books of the collection right?" Zelgadis prompted her.

"Yes that's right. What's your point?"

"It stands to reason to that if one of us was brought near wherever the book is we'd react to it." Zelgadis pointed out.

"So you're suggesting that we bring one of you guys with us when we check out one of the locations?" Lina clarified.

"Actually I was more or less suggesting that you take me. Gourry's still getting used to his condition and Xellos... is well Xellos."

Filia let out a dark chuckle and smiled a taunting smile at Xellos.

"That is a good idea Zelgadis though I have no idea how exactly I could get you into one of the locations without you being spotted." Lina mused.

"But didn't Mister Zelgadis react before he even made it to the building?" Amelia interjected. "All you'd need to do is bring him in the car and if he reacts once you get near the building then you know the book is near."

Lina shrugged. "Alright fine Zel gets to go along. So who do you want to ride with tomorrow?"

"If I get to pick... then I'd say I'd like to go with you Lina." Zelgadis decided.

"Of course he'd like to go with Miss Lina." Xellos exclaimed in a teasing voice. "She is the one he runs to whenever he gets scared. He's bonded to her just like I am to my Filia."

"You piece of garbage!" Filia screamed. "We ARE NOT BONDED!"

"Aw Filia don't you want to be my knight in shining armor and protect me when I'm frightened?" Xellos batted his eyelashes at Filia in a girl flirtatious manner.

"I'd rather be the person who's scaring the crap out of you!" Filia threw a chair at Xellos.

...

At the first intermission of the play Naga had every intention of sneaking out into the audience to grab Val and sneak him into her dressing room with her. However Naga didn't even get anywhere close to leaving backstage. Naga wasn't one to listen to silly little directors when it came to rules but other people did. Many of the back stage workers were ordered to make sure none of the actors or actresses got into the general public in between acts. Not only could there be problems with the costumes but in the director's eye it ruined the whimsical nature of a play for the playgoers to see the actors and actresses out of character before the end of the play.

So it didn't matter how much Naga tried she was not going to get to the audience till after the play. It made going through the second and third acts that much harder. Usually she enjoyed being on stage and performing for the masses. Having all those eyes on her and with them hanging on her every word... It thrilled her to no end and really got her blood pumping. Except that wasn't the case this night.

The scenes were too long, her cast mates lines too slow. The whole night seemed to be dragging on forever. She felt like a child eagerly waiting Christmas with all her presents in view but having to wait to open them. The clock couldn't tick fast enough.

Naga cringed at each dramatic pause hoping her cast mates would hurry up their lines. It was really driving her mad. The moment the last line was delivered and curtain fell Naga almost dashed off the stage towards her dressing room. But she was pulled back on stage with the other actors for the customary second round of applause. It was very frustrating for Naga. She just wanted to get to her dressing room, get out of her costume and into her normal clothes so she could go get Val. She was tired of waiting and this was getting ridiculous.

"Wow Miss Naga you were really good tonight! So full of energy! You could just feel your anticipation with each scene!" A random cast mate gushed as the curtain went down once more.

"That's nice. Bye bye now!" Naga pushed past the woman and raced to her dressing room. Hanging up in her room was a slinky little number that she was just dying to get into. The sounds of her heels were like successive thunderclaps booming through the halls as she raced down them.

The moment Naga was in her room she started stripping down. She didn't even care to see if her door was closed, she just wanted out of that costume! It was so heavy and concealing with all those layers of fabric! Not fitting for a woman of Naga's character. Naga kicked off her ugly costume shoes in random directions not caring where they landed. One of them bounced off the evil book lying between the vanity and the side wall.

Yet another act of insolence the evil book had to endure. This whole process was so maddening to it. After being sealed away all that time to finally have a chance to be truly free and be denied it was a cruel fate. When it was finally free it would have its vengeance. All will feel its bloody wrath.

The book kept extending its bloody red glowing hand trying to grab hold of the buxom actress but Naga was just out of its reach. More fuel for the fire.

"OHOHOHOHOHOH! Time to get my delicious present!" Naga said to herself in the mirror as she reapplied her ruby red lipstick. With a satisfied smirk Naga turned around and strutted her way out to meet her sexy beast.

Val looked very annoyed as he stood with the masses waiting to see the actors and actresses. Though unlike most of them Val wasn't there to get an autograph. A part of him wondered why he came to the play and sat through the whole thing. He didn't like plays they always bored him to tears. So why go at all? To get his money's worth of course. He already spent a small fortune bidding on a date with Naga and play tickets came with the package. Enjoy it or not Val was going to go to that play.

"There you are!" Naga purred as she slinked over to Val.

"Where else would I be?" Val grumbled at her with his arms crossed. "Your play sucked-"

"OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga grabbed Val by the arm and dragged him with her. "Don't talk it ruins the mood."

"Your laughing ruins the mood." Val shot back annoyed that he was being shushed and manhandled as Naga dragged him down the hall.

"OHOHOHOHOHOH! Such a cheeky thing." Naga turned around and planted a hungry kiss on Val's lips. "Always so grumpy my sexy beast. I know I can make that frown go away."

"Where are we going?"

"Shhh..." Naga placed a finger to Val's lips. "No more talking." She kissed him once more before dragging him off again.

They ended up at Naga's dressing room door. Or rather they collided against Naga's dressing room door. The pair were locked lips in a heated embrace. With fumbling hands the door was opened the two almost fell to the ground. A couple giggles and they were back at it.

Being the ever commanding one Naga forced Val towards her vanity making him sit down on the counter space. Her fingers roamed his silk shirt as she devoured his neck. With a sudden fluid motion Naga ripped the shirt right open.

"That's an expensive shirt!" Val growled at Naga.

"OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed throwing her head back. She leaned in real close and whispered into his ear, "Does that mean you're going to punish me?"

Val darkly chuckled.

On the floor the evil book was extremely frustrated. It wanted blood so bad that it could taste it but the annoying woman wasn't alone. Dare it attack while there was another there? What if it missed and was spotted? Books were fragile things after all.

The book was too angry to think straight. It wanted blood so it was going to get it. With its glowing red hand outstretched as far as it could it reached for the annoying woman's leg.

Naga kissed down Val's neck to the area she exposed from ripping Val's shirt. While doing so she shifted her posture moving her foot a bit to one side. Normally such an action wouldn't be such a big deal but to the book on the floor this was. Naga's foot which had been in arms reach of the book was now too far away.

Val was in heaven enjoying the feel of Naga's lips on his skin. So much so that he almost didn't feel a hand's grip on his ankle. But the pain coursing through his body made it very real and very present. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed while convulsing.

Naga back up in shock as first thinking she had done something wrong. But even when she wasn't even touching him Val was still screaming. The aqua haired professor looked to be the perfect picture of torture. "Val! What's wrong?!" She went to reach out to him but he disappeared right before her eyes.

Satisfied the book on the floor disappeared as well leaving the buxom actress alone in her dressing room dumbfounded and terrified.


	51. Chapter 51

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-one

By Relm

He disappeared. He disappeared right before her eyes. Naga just couldn't believe it. She had seen magic shows where people vanished but it wasn't like that. Val had been in so much pain and then _poof _he was gone. What the hell just happened?!

The first thought that came to mind was that Naga was really drunk. Clearly she had drank too much and she had just imagined the whole thing. Val hadn't disappeared because he had never been in her changing room in the first place.

Three bottles of wine tucked away in a bag in the corner said otherwise to this suggestion. Often she would drink part way through a play but she hadn't wanted to be tipsy when she finally got to see Val. She hadn't drunken a thing yet.

So how could Naga explain what she just saw? And what was she to do about it? She could call the police but given that she didn't even have an explanation herself about what she saw how could she tell the police?

In the back of Naga's head she heard her little sister's voice repeatedly asking her about something bad that was supposedly could be at the theatre. At the time Naga had glossed over what Amelia had said repeating but not really listening. With her brain fully wired and heart beating like a jack hammer she really wished she could recall what Amelia had said. Was that evil thing Amelia had talked about the reason why Val disappeared?

...

With dinner done and plans picked out for the next day it didn't seem to make any sense for the members of Ghost Slayers to still be at their HQ. The proper thing would be to go home and get some sleep. But doing so involved moving and driving and everyone was just too tired to do that.

The after dinner hours found the Ghost Slaying bunch vegging out in front the one television set that Lina had acquired for the building. It wasn't a large TV but it did well enough in the room had converted into a 'lounging' area in the old police station. Lina wasn't sure what the room had been used for but assumed it was for storage of some sort. It was large and open and good for the massive couch and other furniture items Lina filled it with.

The girls were all flopped on the couch while the boys hovered about here and there. They were watching a DVD from the bunch of movies that Lina had brought with her to work. This one in particular was a horror movie with all kinds of guts, gore and spooky ghosts. For most people this would have been a very scary movie but for someone like Lina it was a comedy that Lina liked to kick back and watch after a hard day.

Even though they dealt with ghosts on a regular basis this was the sort of movie that would have really freaked Amelia out. But as it was she was just too tired to care. Many times during the movie Amelia found herself nodding off. Really she should have just gone home but she was just too tired to drive herself home. Every so often a loud noise from the movie would jar her awake and then she'd go back to actually watching the movie. This was always short lived as Amelia would drift back off to sleep.

_RING RING!_

"I'm awake I'm awake!" Amelia shot up from where she was slouched.

"Amelia your phone is ringing." Sylphiel mumbled in a very tired voice.

_RING RING!_

Amelia just looked around blankly as if she didn't understand what was going on.

_RING RING!_

"Amelia answer your damned phone!" Lina screamed while pausing the movie.

Completely awake this time Amelia pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "It's my sister... Hello?"

"_AMELIA!" _Naga screamed into the phone causing Amelia to jump.

"Gracia what's wrong?!"

"_It's Val he's gone!" _

"What do you mean he's gone? What happened?"

"_The play was over we were in my dressing room... I had him pinned against my vanity ripping his shirt open while showering him with kisses-"_

"Gracia I don't need those details!" Amelia cried out in mortification.

"_-when he just started screaming in pain while thrashing about!" _

"Did you accidently hit him in-between the legs?"

Suddenly everyone in the room was very interested in Amelia's phone conversation.

"_NO! He vanished! He screamed in pain and vanished! Oh Ame I don't know what to do! I don't even know what happened! What if something attacked him and is still in my dressing room?! AHHHHHHHHH!" _

"Calm down Gracia! It's not still in your dressing room! It would have left after it attacked Mister Val." Amelia tried to reassure Naga.

Right away Filia shot up in her spot and glared at Amelia. "What happened to Val?! What attacked my brother?!"

"I thought he was your step-brother." Xellos piped up.

Before Filia could react both Gourry and Zelgadis hit Xellos on the back of his head.

"_What was it Ame? What attacked my sexy Val?!"_

"I can't be sure but if I'm right then it was that book I was telling you about. Remember? The one that attacks people by stealing their bodies? I asked you a million times if it was in the theatre."

"_So it was here?! IT WAS IN MY DRESSING ROOM THE WHOLE TIME?! I could have been attacked! Are you sure it's not still here?!" _

"Again if it was the book it's not there now. The book attacks its victims and then disappears off to a new location."

"_Val, what about Val? Where is he? Is he dead? Please tell me he's not dead!" _Naga pleaded over the phone at Amelia.

"If it was the book then right now he's probably somewhere else in the theatre and probably lacking his body."

"_He's turned into a ghost?! Oh gods he is dead!" _

"Not dead Gracia just lacking a body. Hang tight Gracia we'll be there soon. Just stay where you are and I'll call you when we get to the theatre."

"_Hurry please!"_

"So it was in the theatre!" Lina exclaimed after Amelia hung up her cell phone.

"And it attacked my brother instead of your stupid sister!" Filia growled. "I'm going to kill your sister when I see her!"

"Miss Filia you can't do that!" Sylphiel scolded the blond Ghost Slayer.

"Suit up and get your gear. We're leaving in five." Lina commanded ignoring Filia's outburst. "Once we get there we'll scan the area. We can't be sure it's the book until we get some readings. Then we'll find Val, zap him, and bring him back to Ghost Slayers HQ."

...

Naga was shaking like a leaf when she opened the doors for the Ghost Slayers crew to come in. The first thing Naga did when she saw everyone was grabbing onto her younger sister in a bone crushing hug. "Ame it was so frightening!" She cried out loud nearly squeezing the life out of Amelia.

"It's okay Gracia we're here now. You can stop hugging me now!" Amelia choked out her words.

"Where did the attack happen?" Lina pulled out her scanner and started taking some readings.

"My dressing room."

"Show us."

Naga's dressing room was exactly how Lina expected it to be, messy and full of random bottles of wine. What did surprise Lina was that there were three of them in the room that hadn't been opened yet. It wasn't like Naga to leave bottles of wine untouched.

"So where was he when he got attacked?"

"The vanity." Naga pointed to her vanity.

"And what were you two doing?" Lina prompted her as she swept the room with her scanner.

"We were-" Naga started to say.

"Nothing we need to hear about!" Amelia quickly interjected.

Filia shuddered and shook her head. There were some images she just didn't want in her head. The thought of her step-brother and Naga... Yuck!

"So what do you think Miss Lina?" Sylphiel asked. "Do you think it was the book?"

Lina nodded. "Yup. And it was probably on the floor here somewhere around the vanity."

"Then Mister Val is probably somewhere in the theatre." Amelia mused. "But how are we going to find him? The theatre is such a big place... It's going to hard to figure out which room he's in."

"And that's not even considering the fact that he could be moving around and not staying in one room." Filia added grumbling.

"Miss Filia don't fret I'm sure we'll find your brother." Sylphiel tried to reassure Filia.

"Step-brother." Filia corrected her.

"OHOHOHOHOHOH! Why are you reassuring her for? My sexy Val is the one that went missing! You should be comforting me!" Naga bellowed.

"Because he's my brother!" Filia growled at Naga.

"You just said step-brother therefore you're not even really related. OHOHOHOHOHOH! And seeing how I'm his girlfriend I actually care more about him than you do!" Naga retorted back.

"Two dates doesn't make you his girlfriend!" Filia yelled.

"OHOHOHOHOH! Try three. And one of those dates was a very intimate and knowledgeable one. I'll bet I know more about Val than you do. At the very least I can say I've seen more of him than you have." Naga puffed her chest out and stared Filia down.

"Gross!" Lina shuddered. "No one wants to think about you and that temperamental ass naked and rolling around sucking each other's face!"

"So how are we going to find Mister Val? Split up and take different corners of the theatre?" Sylphiel wondered. "It's not like we can scan him like a ghost."

"Actually maybe we can..." Filia mumbled in thought. She pulled out a couple tools from her tool belt.

"Filia what do you mean?"

"Shhh!" Filia shushed Lina and continued to fiddle with her scanner.

Naga and the other Ghost Slayers just stood there and waited not quite sure what Filia was up to.

"Ah-ha! I've done it!" Filia announced.

"What did you do?"

"I've reversed the energy signal on the scanner. Now it will scan for heat signatures rather than cold voids." Filia declared.

"So you've turned it into a thermal scanner? Hmm..." Lina drummed her fingers against her crossed arms in thought. "That would make finding Val easier if this place is as haunted as Amelia told us... Alright Filia lead the way."

...

Near an hour later Lina and company tracked down a rouge heat signature that was in the lighting control booth. They had already searched down a couple other heat sources that turned out to be a heating fan, a small stray cat and very large mouse that almost bigger than the cat. Since the mouse had scared everyone but Lina the red haired leader was hoping that this last heat source was actually Val.

"If the cat and the mouse got into a fight who do you think would win?" Lina asked trying to make light of the situation in the hopes that she could curve the fear out of her people.

"The mouse. It would eat the cat." Naga declared.

"Ewwwww!" Sylphiel, Filia and Amelia all exclaimed and shuddered.

Lina just shrugged. She actually agreed with Naga though she as hell wasn't going to say that out loud. At the top of the stairs the lighting control room door was closed. Lina tried the knob but the door was clearly locked. "Do you have a key to open the door?"

"Yup." Naga pulled out a credit card and jimmied the door open.

"I could have done that." Lina grumbled in annoyance. 'I also could have kicked the door down if I wanted to.'

"Is he there? Is he in the room?" Filia tried to see over Lina and Naga.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" Naga screamed. "ANOTHER MUTANT MOUSE!"

This started up another chorus of screams out the others sans Lina. In fact Lina wasn't too impressed by this sight. Where the hell was Val?

...

In a very dark room Val mindlessly went about his business. He appeared to be shaving though he wasn't in a bathroom nor did he have a mirror or sink in front of him to do this task properly. Also the fact that he had no water either did seem to make the motions pointless but somehow he managed to be shaving. Very strange given that he was in a bedroom.


	52. Chapter 52

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-two

By Relm

After seeing your boyfriend disappear before you very eyes and then find out that it was an evil book that did caused it one could be very upset and easily frightened. Such was the cause when it came to Naga after Sailune theatre was cleared. Val was still missing and probably bodiless and there was an evil body stealing book on the rampage that could be anywhere. Naga was beside herself with fear. In this sort of situation Lina would offer to let Naga stay with them in Ghost Slayers HQ for the night. However usually it was a close friend she would offer this to and not a person that pissed her off and Ghost Slayers HQ wouldn't be crawling with ghost like creatures. Seeing Zelgadis, Xellos or Gourry in their see through state probably would upset Naga further. This didn't stop Amelia from trying to plead her sister's case.

"C'mon Miss Lina! Why can't my sister come back to Ghost Slayers HQ with us? She's very upset! She shouldn't be alone!" Amelia protested.

"I don't care she's not coming back to HQ with us!" Lina shouted back.

"Why not?! She's scared!"

"And that's exactly my point Amelia! If she's frightened now how do you think she'll react when she sees Zel, Gourry or Xellos? And Slimer? How do you think she'll react to him?!" Lina snapped. Truthfully she had actually forgot about Slimer right until she started talking. 'Yeah Slimer would really freak her out... Actually that might be fun to watch...' Lina couldn't help but smirk a little.

"We could warn her about them, about Slimer. In fact I'm sure my sister will like Slimer he's such a friendly ghost." Amelia pleaded.

"Slimer is friendly but he ain't no Casper. Amelia don't even try and rationalize your way into letting her come with us."

"But Gracia shouldn't be alone right now!"

"Then stay with her!" Lina shot back. "Go home with her or take her back to your place if you're so worried about her."

Amelia frowned. She didn't want to come right out and say it but Amelia herself was a little scared. This book could be anywhere and Amelia would have rather be around a lot of people. Being with someone who was frightened that she had to make feel better when she didn't even all that great wasn't something Amelia was looking forward to. Amelia was too freaked out herself to really babysit her older sister. She knew it was just silly of her because she was a Ghost Slayer after all and should be used to scary things. But some habits die hard.

"Miss Lina wouldn't it better if we all stayed in groups of three or more?" Amelia suggested inappropriate small little voice.

"Why?"

"Well safety in numbers right?" Amelia laughed nervously.

Lina just shook her head. "You're scared aren't you? For crying out loud Amelia don't be such a chicken. I highly doubt the book will show up at your place and you really shouldn't be afraid off ghosts." Lina chided in disgust.

"Please could someone come with me? I don't want to be alone with my sister!"

"And there lies the problem; no one wants to be alone with your sister." Lina joked.

Amelia looked to the others hopefully but all she got was cringing in response. "Fine I'll take Gracia home. But I'm calling if there is anything spooky that happens!" Amelia threatened them.

"And I will have my phone shut off." Lina joked back in response.

"Miss Lina!" Amelia screeched in protest.

Lina rolled her eyes. "Fine call me if anything goes wrong."

"Miss Lina what about the book though?" Sylphiel finally piped up. "Shouldn't we figure out where the book is now?"

Lina shook her head. "To be honest Sylphiel I'm far too tired to even think about that stuff right now. Chances are our brains will be too muddled to even come up with any real possibilities right now. Better we get some sleep and deal with the problem tomorrow."

"But Miss Lina what if the book attacks again tonight! How can you just sit back idly and do nothing?!" Amelia exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be sitting idly I'd be sleeping." Lina darkly joked back.

Both Sylphiel and Amelia groaned.

"Seriously though when has the book attacked right after it attacked someone else?" Lina mused. "There's a good chance that the book needs some time before it actually establishes itself in a new location."

"That or it waits till it can get its victim alone." Filia added with a dark edge to her voice. She wasn't happy one bit about this situation at all. Even though she wasn't on the greatest terms with her step-brother she still wouldn't wish any ill will on him. The thought that he was wandering around lost in his mind and without a body made Filia feel very uneasy.

"If that's the case then why did it attack your step-brother with Amelia's sister in the room?" Sylphiel wondered.

"I doubt that he was the original target. The book was probably after Amelia's sister and grabbed Val instead. And the book was probably got tired of waiting. Who knows how many times it already tried to attack Naga? If it had tried multiple times and was getting frustrated then maybe it figured it was okay if there was a witness because the book was going to disappear right afterwards." Filia rationalized.

"That or the book was trying to get two victims instead of one." Lina interjected.

"Either way the book is clearly getting bolder or more powerful. Is it really wise to wait until tomorrow?" Amelia whined.

"Amelia I've made my decision and that's final! If you want to think of where the book might be while you're at your sister's home then go for it. But the rest of us are going to go back to Ghost Slayers HQ and/or our homes to get some sleep. We'll start fresh tomorrow morning."

"What about Val?" Naga spoke up quietly. She hadn't said much of anything since they got outside the theatre. Even as Lina and Amelia were talking about Naga didn't seem to hear or care. She was just so quiet lost in her own mind. It was so rare to see her not be so loud and brazen. This Naga was meek and silent. "Aren't you going to find him?"

"We will Gracia but in the morning." Amelia reassured her. "It's really late and I don't think we can really check all the places we need to when nothing is open."

"That and Val isn't going to aware of the passing of time. He'll just be going through a loop." Lina added.

Naga frowned but didn't say anything more on the subject.

Once plans were in order all the Ghost Slayers and buxom actress piled into the Ghost Slayersmobile to leave. Naga didn't drive to work (she had intended to get drunk after the play as it was) so there was no worrying about extra cars. Sylphiel was going to pick up Amelia in the morning and then they were going to work out where they thought the book might go next.

Sylphiel, Lina and Filia could have gone to their homes after they got back to the Ghost Slayers HQ parking lot but they were all too tired. There were showers in the building and they all had extra clothing in the lockers so there was no problems with them staying. The biggest issue would be food but they had eaten prior anyway.

"I feel like I could sleep for a week!" Lina groaned as she and the others climbed the stairs.

"You really should get that elevator fixed." Filia added with just as much enthusiasm.

"Tell that to falling plaster. I think the walls would disagree."

"Well then replace the stairs with an escalator!"

Lina just shook her head.

Upstairs the other 'residents' of Ghost Slayers where still in the tv room hanging around. Zelgadis was reading his paper, Gourry was asleep on the couch and Xellos and Slimmer had clearly been up to something as they jumped when the others came in the room and hid something. Both of them looked mischievous/guilty.

"Do I want to know what they were doing?" Lina asked Zelgadis.

"Not really." Zelgadis replied in a dry voice.

"I think I should keep Slimer away from Xellos. They are clearly bad influences on each other."

"So was Filia's step brother attacked by the book too?"

Lina nodded. "It looks that way."

"Where is he?"

"I have no idea. This is the first time the book has attacked someone with someone else in the room."

"That you know off." Zelgadis corrected her.

"True. There could be other victims. Still I don't know where Val could be."

"Well aside from me the Gourry and Xellos gravitated to people they close to so wouldn't Val do the same?"

"If that's the case then it's either Filia or Naga. He was with Naga when he got attacked so I guess he'd show up around Filia...?"

"Then he could already be wandering around Ghost Slayers already."

"Let's hope that's the case. I really don't feel like looking all around Sailune for that grump."

...

"Gracia don't you have any tea or anything to drink that isn't wine or liquor?" Amelia asked as she looked through Naga's kitchen.

"OHOHOHOHO! Why would I need anything else?" Naga called out from her bedroom.

"Because tea calms a person's nerves when they are tense."

"OHOHOHOHO! So does wine my sister. And I'll expect a glass ready and waiting for me when I come out!"

"Which one do want red or white?"

"I don't care! As long as it's booze it doesn't matter."

Amelia looked at the vast array of wines Naga had to choose and felt her head spin. She wasn't a wine drinker so Amelia had no idea what to grab. There was another problem Amelia had to face, how would she open a bottle once she chose one? Amelia picked up one of five different corkscrews Naga had and Amelia's stress level went up higher. She had no idea how she was going to open the bottle.

Looking back at the wine Amelia almost sighed with relief. She saw right away one bottle with a screw top. Amelia didn't care if the wine was good or not that's the one she was going to open.

Naga came bursting out of her bedroom wearing very sexy black lingerie. "Servant girl get me my wine at once!"

Amelia frowned at Naga. "You know I don't like it when you say things like that to me."

"Oh Ame don't be so serious! And pour yourself a glass too. I don't want to be drinking alone." Naga ordered Amelia not giving a choice in the matter.

"Fine. But I'm going to go to the bathroom first." Amelia announced as she got up. In reality Amelia didn't actually need to use the bathroom, she just wanted to wash her hands. She figured that if she took long enough that Naga would have finished off the wine before she got back.

This was actually the first time Amelia had been in Naga's apartment as her sister had just moved into it recently. So when Amelia went to open the door she thought was the bathroom she was instead greeted with sight of a linen closet. Sheepishly Amelia grinned and closed the door. As she turned around she was greeted with an even more alarming sight. A transparent Val standing buck naked in hall toweling himself off with an equally transparent towel.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Amelia screamed.

...

Too tired to even make it to a bed Lina was near comatose laying on the couch of the Ghost Slayers HQ tv room. Her phone sat on the coffee table beside her so in easy reach in case of a call. Lina however wasn't expecting a call so when her phone started to ring and danced across the table Lina cursed. "What?!" Lina growled into her phone.

_"Miss Lina! He's here!" _Amelia's panicked voice rang through Lina's phone.

"Ughhh... Who?"

_"Mister Val!" _

"So?"

_"What do I do?"_

"Do you have your equipment?"

"_Yes."_

"Is he transparent?"

_"Yes."_

"Is he giving off thermal readings?"

_"Yes."_

"Then zap him! You have your equipment with you! What's the problem?!"

_"The problem is he's NAKED Miss Lina!"_

"Completely naked?"

"_He's only got a towel on and he's not even wearing it!"_

Lina let out a dark chuckle. "Zap him anyway. I'm going back to sleep. See you in the morning." Lina hung up her phone before Amelia could protest. 'I'm evil.' Lina smiled an evil smile as she drifted back off to sleep.


	53. Chapter 53

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-three

By Relm

"Miss Lina do I really have to pick Amelia up?" Sylphiel whined after she and others had breakfast that morning.

"You were fine with doing it yesterday." Lina reminded her.

"But that was because it was just supposed to be Amelia. Now it's Amelia, her sister and a very naked Mister Val!" Sylphiel exclaimed. Just the thought of the angry English professor not wearing any clothing made Sylphiel blush. She was just far too modest and proper to think such things let alone drive with someone in the backseat naked.

"He's not naked, he has a towel." Lina replied with a little snicker.

"Miss Lina that still doesn't help!" Sylphiel cried out. "Can't someone else pick them up?"

"Don't look at me I am not going anywhere near a car full of that much crazy." Lina was quick to say.

"Miss Filia? He's your brother." Sylphiel reminded Filia hoping to appeal to the blond haired Ghost Slayer's sense of family.

"Step-brother." Filia corrected her. "And there's no way I want to see Val dressed in just a towel."

"But he'll still be dressed in one when he finally gets here." Zelgadis rationalized. "So why does it matter if you see him like that earlier?"

Filia glared at Zelgadis really wishing she could hit the ghostly librarian. "Who asked you?!" She snapped.

"Oooh that's my Filia! So full of angry fire even this early in the morning." Xellos practically purred.

Filia shuddered and then glared at Xellos. "You shut up! No one wants to hear you talk!" Filia snapped at Xellos.

"But my dear when the subject is you I cannot keep my voice silent." Xellos twirled around while clutching his chest dramatically.

"Zelgadis hit him."

Zelgadis crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head. "No. I'm not just going to do what you want when you snap at me like that."

Filia glared at both Zelgadis and Xellos. "When Lina figures out how to fix you guys I'm going to beat the crap out of both of you." She threatened.

Zelgadis shook his head. "That's an idle threat if Lina can't fix us."

"That's enough out of the three of you!" Lina yelled. "Sylphiel you promised to pick up Amelia so that's exactly what you're going to do. No more whining!"

Sylphiel let out a crafted sigh. "Yes Miss Lina."

"And you," Lina turned to Filia, "Are going to do a couple loads of laundry."

Filia made a face but didn't argue. They had all been spending more nights at Ghost Slayers HQ than they would usually in a week so there was more dirty clothes and towels than normal.

"What are you going to do?" Zelgadis wondered as he watched Lina sit down at the computer.

"First I'm going to order some groceries for HQ online and then I'm going to figure out what we're going to do about breakfast."

"Mmmm... Breakfast how I miss that..." Gourry mumbled as he dragged himself into the room.

"If you're not even hungry why are you grumbling about it?!" Lina snapped at the blond officer.

"Because I miss it..." Gourry whined.

"You know you could just zap him a few times to make him solid enough to eat. Then you wouldn't have to hear him whining." Zelgadis half suggested half joked.

Right away Gourry's eyes lit up and he looked at Lina with hope and surprise. "You mean you can actually do that?! I could eat something?"

Lina glared daggers at Zelgadis. "You just had to say something didn't you?!"

"So if I get zapped I really can eat?!" Gourry jumped up and down in glee. "Zap me! Please zap me!"

"No!" Lina growled at Gourry. "I am not going to intentionally zap you! I have no idea how many zaps from our guns it would take to do it and we have no idea what the lasting effects are!"

"Lasting effects? We're practically ghosts as it is." Xellos mused.

"Don't you add to the problem! No one is going to zap anyone!" Lina shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Please?" Gourry pleaded. "I really want to eat something!"

"Shut up!" Lina yelled. "Zel!"

"Yeah I'm on it." Zelgadis said with a sigh. He smacked Gourry upside the head and went back to doing the crossword in his newspaper. An awkward silence filled room as Lina surfed the net and Gourry grumbled in the corner. "You know every morning when I wake up the crossword in the paper is blank even if I write in it the night before. That's weird... right?" Zelgadis said with just a bit of sheepishness to his voice.

Lina just glared at him. "Don't try and change the subject I'm mad at you."

...

Amelia let out a huge sigh as she tried to ignore the large elephant in the room. Thankfully the elephant was being covered by a towel but still it was enough to make Amelia very very uncomfortable. Her sister on the other hand wasn't making things any easier.

"Why would you hide such a wonderful body my sexy beast?! Take it off!" Naga hooted and whistled at the mostly naked and see-through Val who was sitting on her couch.

Val just looked down at himself and smirked. "I guess my body is pretty good isn't it?"

Naga nodded and licked her lips seductively. "If I could touch you right now I'd rip that towel off and have my wicked way with you on the dining room table."

Amelia couldn't have looked more mortified at that moment as she just stared at her sister.

"Oh really? Even with your sister in the room?" Val dared with a wiggled eyebrow.

"Most definitely."

Okay so maybe Amelia could be more mortified. "GRACIA!"

"Oh poo Ame I was only kidding. OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga threw her head back laughing.

"So I'm really dating you?" Val questioned Naga still in disbelief.

"Yes. Though the term dating is a tad tame as most of our time has been spent playing in the bedroom."

Val at first seemed very amused by this piece of information but then it turned into a big deep frown. "I can't remember any of that." He said with a deep sigh.

"Oh Vallikins it's going to be okay." Naga sat down next to Val on the sofa and went to give Val a reassuring pat on the shoulder but her hand went right through him.

"You suck at making someone feel better." Val said very dryly.

"Would it make you feel better if I took my top off?" Naga offered while striking a very provocative pose.

"GRACIA!" Amelia covered her eyes in

For a moment Val seemed to consider Naga's offer as he stared at her but then he sighed and looked down at the floor. "Tempting but even though I can't remember much about myself I'm pretty sure I don't do well with just looking. It'll be a tease to see what I can't touch or feel."

Naga frowned looking almost as sad as she did after Val got initially attacked. "Ame you guys can fix Val right? So he doesn't have to stay like this forever?" She almost pleaded with her younger sister.

"Gracia you know I can't promise you that. We've already got three other men at Ghost Slayers HQ in the same condition as Mister Val. We're doing our best to help but it will be hard to do anything unless we find that book." Amelia explained.

Naga pouted and sunk into the couch. "I don't like see my sexy Val so sad."

Val looked over at the pouting Naga and cracked a little smile. "Okay how about a little peek?"

"MISTER VAL!" Amelia screeched.

Val let out a low dark chuckle. "Your sister is a bit of a prude huh?"

Naga rolled her eyes. "OHOHOHOH! You don't even know the half of it."

Amelia just shook her head and buried her face into her hands. "What is taking Miss Sylphiel so long?" Amelia grumbled to herself.

"So you said there were three others like me right?" Val asked Amelia breaking the younger Sailune sister out of her mumblings.

"Yes a librarian who was researching the books, a professor whom you work with at the university and a police detective." Amelia lifted her head up.

"Have any of them remembered anything or had any changes in their bodies?"

"Mister Zelgadis has had a bit of his memories come back but nothing significant. Also Mister Zelgadis has managed to hold something without thinking despite not having a physical body. Even Mister Xellos." Amelia admitted.

"Hmmm..." Val tapped his chin in thought. "I'll have ask them about that."

"I don't think Mister Zelgadis really knows how he did it and I'm pretty sure Mister Xellos wouldn't be that helpful to you."

Val frowned. "Why is that?"

"Because Mister Xellos likes to annoy people and you're one of his favourite victims besides your step-sister Miss Filia. And even though he doesn't have his memory he's still harassing Miss Filia." Amelia explained.

"Well if he's a ghost and I'm a ghost does that mean I still can't hit him?"

Amelia frowned. "Miss Lina doesn't like us using the term ghost to describe what has happened to you and the others but actually you can touch someone else that was attacked by the book."

A wicked devilish grin grew on Val's face as he thought about fun he had to come. "Excellent..."

"Why are you so excited about being able to hit Mister Xellos? You don't even remember him right now." Amelia wondered with a frown.

"I don't know why... but the notion of being able to him just makes me... excited for some reason."

"OHOHOHOHOH! That's my Val! What a beast! Grrrrrr!" Naga purred.

_DING DONG! _

"Oh thank gods!" Amelia exclaimed. "Miss Sylphiel is here! Time to leave!" Amelia practically jumped five into the air as she raced towards the front door.

...

Sylphiel tried very hard to keep her eyes glued to the road as she drove her, Amelia, Naga and the practically naked Val to Ghost Slayers HQ. Amelia was sitting up front with her while the other two were in the back. One wrong look into the rear view mirror and she'd be looking at Val the man who always frightened her wearing just a towel. The whole situation was wrong and it made Sylphiel very uncomfortable. In fact Sylphiel was so bashful when it came to male nudity (even the tame semi variety) that it just made the situation that much worse.

"Mister Val, Gracia I have to warn you about Slimer." Amelia spoke up after they had been driving awhile. She was feeling less uncomfortable now that she wasn't having to directly look at her sister and her sister's ghostly boyfriend.

"Slimer? What's a Slimer?"

"Slimer is a ghost that hangs around Ghost Slayers." Sylphiel explained.

"He's green and a bit strange looking with no legs. He's very nice and friendly but does tend to eat anything he can get his hands on. Or least try and shove it into his mouth." Amelia added.

"Why name him Slimer for? That's a bit weird." Val mused.

"Yeah... he kinda... slimes things... and people too." Amelia said sheepishly.

...

Amongst a plethora of books on a very cluttered desk the book appeared. This was the last one, the last victim and then it would be free. Free from the confines of the red stained pages and worn leather bindings. Free to cause chaos and spill blood freely. Yes the killing was what it looked forward to the most. All the lovely death it craved soon so it would get what it wanted. The world was going to scream a symphony all for the evil that was once trapped in a cursed book.

The only thing left was to choose that last victim... the one who would be fitting enough to bare the will of the evil from the book. A most powerful person of Sailune.

If the book could smile then it would be grinning from ear to devilish ear. All it needed to do was wait in that cluttered office of Sailune City Hall.


	54. Chapter 54

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-four

By Relm

Sylphiel was more than relieved when she pulled into the Ghost Slayers HQ parking lot. It meant that she could get out of the car and away from the nearly naked and newest member of the evil book victims club.

Just like a dog waiting for its master to come through the front door Slimer was waiting and hovering not too far from where Sylphiel intended to park. Seeing the bright green gooey smile of the strange legless apparition brought a smile to Amelia and Sylphiel's faces.

To Val and Naga's it brought confusion.

"What the hell is that?!" Val exclaimed as Sylphiel pulled the car into park.

"It's Slimer, the ghost I was warning you about." Amelia explained. "Don't worry he's friendly."

"Do all ghosts look like that Ame? He looks... slimy." Naga shuddered.

"I told you that he likes to slime people. That's why we call him Slimer? Honestly... I swear no one listens to me." Amelia grumbled getting out of the car. "And no not all ghosts look like him. Slimer is Slimer, special and unique."

"Unique yes, but I wouldn't call that... special..." Naga shuddered once more. "He better not come anywhere near me!"

"Not something I can control Gracia. In fact Slimer will definitely want to greet you in his own slimy way." Amelia warned her.

"Then I'm not leaving this car!" Naga declared.

"If she's not leaving then neither am I." Val added crossing his arms.

Amelia looked at Sylphiel with a look of tired exasperation. She knew that her sister could be childish but she didn't expect that Val would adopt a similar mindset. Amelia didn't know how she was going to get them both out of the car. It wasn't really necessary for Amelia to bring them upstairs to see Lina and the others but Amelia knew that having them just sitting in the car for hours upon end wouldn't be good either.

Thankfully Slimer took matters into his own hands and entered the car to meet his new friends. He wasn't one to like having to wait.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Sylphiel stifled a giggle. "Slimer get out of there!"

Slimer flew right out through the car's roof and floated right next to the raven haired.

Both Val and Naga stepped out of the car with green slim dripping off of them.

"Yuck..." Val flung the slim off his hands and grabbed the only thing he could use to clean himself off with... the towel wrapped around his waist.

"MISTER VAL!" Both Sylphiel and Amelia shrieked as they looked away their faces bright red with a deep blush. They both turned around to avoid looking at the scandalous sight.

"What?" Val shrugged as if what he wasn't doing anything out of ordinary. It was like he didn't even realize at all that he was naked.

"You're naked!" Sylphiel shrieked.

"So? I need to clean myself off and I happen to have a towel. Is it wrong to use it?" Val said quite simply as he shook the towel in the air and was amazed by how quickly the goo seemed to disappear.

"But you're naked!" Sylphiel protested again.

"If you don't want see it then don't look. It's as simple as that." Val stated as he wrapped his towel around his waist again.

"You don't give us much of an option when you suddenly flash us like that!" Amelia hissed in annoyance.

"Well the towel is back on." Val shrugged as he strutted his way past to the two blushing Ghost Slayers forcing them to check out his towel clad butt.

"It's a shame you two are such prudes." Naga sighed in annoyance. "Because that sight would be much better if there wasn't a towel in the way."

...

It wasn't uncommon for Mayor Philonel Sailune to spend his morning going everywhere in city hall besides his own office. Most mayors would spend their time locked away in their offices making people come to them with the daily business. But Mayor Philonel Sailune wasn't like that at all. It was one of the reasons why Philonel was such a popular choice as mayor. He wasn't one to pass off things to someone else to do. If he needed to contact someone Philonel went to them personally. He always felt it gave things more of human touch and made people more productive and feel valued. If you were important enough for the mayor to come talk to you about an issue then that meant that issue was important that you had the privilege to take care off.

So as Mayor Sailune came into city hall with coffee in hand his office was going to be the last place he was going to be visiting during his morning rounds. Good thing too since there was something waiting in there that he wasn't prepared to meet. An impatient visitor that was getting more and more anxious by the minute.

...

The Ghost Slayers HQ office room was quiet as everyone sat around the table. It was awkward for most of the women in the room as they were not used to seeing the Sailune University professor in such a state of dress. For the men in the room it was uncomfortable for a completely different reason.

Looking at the compact and well defined muscles of the confident half naked aqua haired man was enough to make anyone feel inadequate by comparison. Val looked good, damn good and he knew it. It was enough to make any man feel jealous.

Zelgadis, Xellos and Gourry shifted uncomfortably in their seats thinking about how they probably wouldn't look half as good if they took their own shirts off. Silly to think as each man had something about them that was appealing in their physiques but with their memories lacking their confidences weren't at a normal level.

"OHOHOHOH! Are these men gay?" Naga spoke out breaking the spell of silence with her usual brashness.

"WHAT?!" Zelgadis and Gourry exclaimed in shock while Xellos just raised a curious eyebrow.

"Why would you ask that for?!" Lina barked annoyed with Naga being there let alone hearing the stupid comments coming out of her mouth.

"Here I am a beautiful and voluptuous woman and what are the men looking at? Why my Val of course! He is a delicious specimen after all so I can see a gay man unable to resist him but straight men?"

"Maybe they just don't find you all that appealing with all that green goo all over you." Lina shot back just a bit offended by Naga's suggestion.

"She does have big boobs." Gourry finally noticed. "Bigger than yours," He said referring to Lina's modest bust.

Lina glared and would have thrown something at the blond police detective but instead she looked to Zelgadis.

Zelgadis nodded and then hit Gourry upside the head.

"Oww..." Gourry mumbled rubbed the now sore spot on his noggin.

"So we really can hurt each other can't we?" Val exclaimed with glee. And with that Val got up and slapped Xellos in the face. "Oooh that felt good!"

"Mister Val you can't go around hurting Mister Xellos!" Amelia cried outrage.

"Sure he can. Go ahead Val hit and maim that idiot all you want." Filia motioned for Val to continue on.

"Miss Filia!" Sylphiel exclaimed. "You can't mean that! Miss Lina tell her that it's wrong!"

Lina shrugged. "Nah. I agree with Filia. Val can beat up Xellos all he wants. It saves me from making Zelgadis do it all the time."

"Why does Val want to hit Xellos right from the start for?" Zelgadis wondered in obvious confusion. "You all just got here."

"Well Mister Xellos did harass Mister Val a lot at the university before he got attacked. Almost as much as Miss Filia in fact. So that probably is the reason why Mister Val would want to hurt Mister Xellos." Amelia explained.

"So does that mean that Val remembers Xellos then?" Zelgadis questioned. "Because I didn't remember anything when I first got attacked. So do you remember Xellos?"

Val shook his head. "Nope. I don't remember anything."

"Then why did you want to hit Xellos for?"

Val shrugged. "I don't know. Something about the idea of hitting him just seemed... satisfying somehow."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Zelgadis exclaimed in irritation.

"I guess there's just some things that transcend normal things like logic and memory." Lina said sagely. "Be honest Zel, didn't you think to yourself at some point when you first saw Xellos how nice it would be to hit him?"

"Hmm..." Zelgadis thought about it for a moment. "Alright I'll shut up."

"OHOHOHOHOH! This pretty one's name is Zelgadis isn't it?" Naga belted out. "And yet Lina calls him 'Zel'. Could it be that little dateless loser Lina finally has a boyfriend? Not surprising that he's practically imaginary."

"Imaginary?! Look at your boyfriend! I can see right through him!" Lina countered back without thinking. Had she been thinking then she would have just as red in the face as Zelgadis was.

"OHOHOHOHOH! So 'Zel' is your boyfriend then?"

"Wha-I-I-I didn't even know Zelgadis before he was attacked and turned into this!" Lina stammered both flustered and embarrassed.

"So you made him your boyfriend after meeting him like this? OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga belted out in her usual annoying fashion.

"ZELGADIS IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Lina screamed. "I HAVE NO BOYFRIEND I'M DATING NO ONE!"

"So then Lina is still a dateless loser." Naga declared smugly.

"GAH! You are so annoying!" Lina screamed. "Forget all your nonsense! We have other problems to deal with. So let's get out the map and figure out this issue."

Sylphiel grabbed her measuring utensils and the map from the wall and placed them on the table for all to see.

Lina had since numbered the locations based on which one was reportedly hit first. It didn't seem to be much of a pattern except that it was more a circular pattern. Each point on the circle didn't line up clockwise or counter clockwise still making the pattern strange.

"Okay so if we put in Mister Val's attack location, the theatre, making location number four then..." Sylphiel mumbled as she marked on the map and measured. With a pencil Sylphiel then made a circle around the point. "Then the next spot should be within this radius."

Everyone looked closely at the map while frowning. Even Slimer though the green ghost was looking not because he was trying to figure what spot would be next but more of the reasoning why this piece of paper was so interesting to everyone.

"Well it looks like the book is making a circle with its attacks so I'd say these sections are completely out." Zelgadis was quick to point out two thirds of the circle Sylphiel had drawn.

"Hmmm... that makes me wonder..." Lina grabbed the pencil from Sylphiel and started to connect the dots in the order of attacks. Right away it became clear that the dots were more than just a circular pattern. By guessing the rough area of the next attack and connecting with the first attack point the pattern became a star. Drawing the circle around the star where all the points met completed the picture for everyone.

"That's a magic square!" Amelia exclaimed.

"Not only that but if we have the map with north being the top of the page then the magic square is upside down." Lina pointed out.

Right away Sylphiel, Filia and Amelia let out an unhappy sigh.

"What's wrong with an upside down star?" Gourry wondered.

"It's an inversion of power. Rather than promote good energy and repel bad energy it does the opposite. If something was bad and evil like a demonic spirit or an angry poltergeist and it was in the center of this inverted magic square it would increase their evil energy considerably." Lina explained.

"Lina isn't that the location of that ghost magnet house?" Zelgadis pointed to the very middle of the star in the square.

"Oh gods! It is! This is bad!" Lina exclaimed clenching her fists tightly in agitation till they turned her knuckles turned white.

"Could that be the book's endgame? To use all that spiritual power from that house?" Filia wondered.

"I don't know." Lina admitted. "But I don't want to find out. We need to get to that book before it attacks anyone else! What are the important locations in the area radius?"

"The firehouse, a community center... and... city hall..." Sylphiel said that last one almost too softly as it was the most worrying location of all.

"Daddy!" Amelia exclaimed. "The book could be after Daddy! We have to warn him!"

"Yes we'll warn him Amelia but it might not be him the book is targeting. It could be anyone in city hall," Lina reminded her, "or in that community center or the firehouse. In order to make sure no one gets attacked all three locations will need to be evacuated."

"Miss Lina what are we going to do?!" Amelia shrieked. "The book could already be attacking someone right at this minute! What if my father... what if he's..."

"Amelia get a hold of yourself! The worst thing we can do at this moment is panic." Lina shook her youngest employee to snap her out it.

"But what are we going to do Miss Lina?"

"We're going to call police." Lina said while pulling out her phone. "Officer Zoanna knows our situation so I'm sure he can help us."


	55. Chapter 55

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-five

By Relm

"So what did he say?! What did he say?!" Amelia damn near demanded from Lina the moment the redheaded Ghost Slayer hung up the phone after talking to Officer Zoanna. The youngest Ghost Slayer was being so forceful about the subject that she grabbed her boss by the collar while shaking her in the most impatient manner.

"Whoa! Amelia calm down!" Lina freed her collar from Amelia's hands. "You don't need to go all crazy town on me."

"You will answer her at once you little boygirl!" Naga piped up in a roaring voice staring down at Lina with a glare.

Lina's gut reaction was to make a wise cracking remark to both Amelia and Naga but instead she bit her tongue. Amelia and Naga had a very valid reason to be upset and acting irrationally. Lina didn't think she'd be much different if it were her own father that could be in danger. "According to Officer Zoanna the information I gave him isn't enough to convince the chief that there's a reason to have those locations evacuated."

"Why not?! The book has already attacked four people! How many is it going to take for them to take this seriously?!" Amelia yelled out in frustration.

"The chief doesn't know about Zel and the others. And even if he did I doubt he'd believe it was true. The chief is a hard facts kind of a guy and spiritual stuff doesn't fall in that category." Lina explained.

"What are we going to do?!"

"Don't sweat it Officer Zoanna is taking care of it."

"But Miss Lina you just said that Officer Zoanna couldn't do anything!"

"I know." Lina smirked a sly smile. "He couldn't do anything with the information I told him so he's going to tell the chief another story. Apparently there was an anonymous phone tip that a bomb is going to go off in one of our three locations. They're going to evacuate the buildings."

"That still creates a problem." Zelgadis frowned while drumming his fingers on the table.

"How so?"

"Even if they evacuate the buildings they will still have to check for the supposed 'bombs'. Even if Amelia and Naga's father is out of the building one of the police officers investigating the building could get attacked." Zelgadis pointed out.

"Then we just need to get there before the police go inside!" Amelia declared.

"But Amelia we don't even know which building the book is in." Sylphiel rationalized.

"It's in city hall!" Amelia insisted.

"You're just guessing."

"No I'm not! I feel it in my bones! It's there in city hall! And it's after my father!" Amelia cried out in frustration. "Why can't you all see it?!"

"It would make sense to attack the mayor of Sailune." Xellos mused.

"How so?" Lina prompted him.

"Well if this is the last of the book's victims it would make sense to go after the most powerful person in the city." Xellos explained.

"To what end?" Zelgadis interjected. "The mayor would just end up like us."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps not..." Xellos stated rather cryptically with a sly smile.

"Does he know something we don't or is he just trollin'?" Val wondered out loud.

"Completely trolling." Filia concluded.

"Alright." Val got up from his seat, smacked Xellos upside the head and then went back to his seat.

"So what do we do?" Filia looked to Lina as did almost everyone in the room.

"We all go to city hall!" Amelia exclaimed before Lina could say anything.

"No. This is what we're going to do. We're going to divide into three groups and check out all three locations at the same time. Each group will take one of our book victims with them to gage their reactions. If you get a big reaction then you know that's the place." Lina explained.

"Ooooh do I get to wear a Ghost Slayers jumpsuit and tot a gun?!" Naga asked excitedly.

"Um... no. You're going to stay here with Val. Since he's just got attacked himself and is practically naked he's better off staying where it's safe. Likewise for you since YOU'RE NOT A GHOST SLAYER!" Lina yelled at the busty woman.

"I don't care; I'm still going to put on a suit after you leave." Naga huffed while crossing her arms.

"Fine whatever. Sylphiel you take Gourry to the firehouse. Filia you take Xellos to the community center. And Amelia and I are going to take Zel to city hall." Lina decided. "Have your cell phones on and ready with your guns at hand."

"What do we do if we're at the right location?"

"Call the others and have come to back you up. But we've got to hurry! Officer Zoanna should have made the call by now so the buildings are starting to be evacuated. Let's go!"

...

"What's going on?" Mayor Philonel Sailune wondered out loud as he drank his coffee. Everyone around him was quickly exiting the building.

"Oh thank the gods there you are! You we're in your office and no one had any idea where you were! Sir we have to go, we have to leave at once!" Hallas one of Philonel's office staff workers warned him.

"For what reason?"

"The police called and told us we have to evacuate the building!" Hallas exclaimed. He leaned in closely and whispered, "there might be a bomb somewhere in here!"

"Well then we must help co-ordinate the efforts to get everyone out safely!" Mayor Sailune declared.

"No Mayor Sailune! Security is already handling it. We need to get you out of the building right now!" Hallas tried to urge his boss out of city hall.

"I'm not leaving this building till I know that everyone else is out safely. What sort of man would I be if I didn't put the safety of others above my own? I am the mayor of Sailune and the people of this city elected me because of my honour and integrity. They put their trust in me that I will always do what is best for them. So I must stay and make sure everyone is safely out!" Mayor Sailune declared with a fiery passion very much a standard in the Sailune family bloodline.

"But Mayor Sailune..." Hallas groaned. "It's not safe..."

"Which is exactly why I must insist you leave right now." Mayor Sailune motioned for his worker to go out the door.

Hallas looked to the door and all the bright happy sunshine the safety of being outside brought and then back at Mayor Sailune. Now Hallas wasn't a brave man and he knew it but he was loyal as well as a big time brownnoser. The coward in him was telling him to run but the suck up in him told him to stay. It was very confusing. "But Mayor Sailune... I shouldn't leave... without you..."

"Really I insist Hallas! Your bravery and loyalty is the backbone of this office and I do appreciate it. But I couldn't live with myself if anything were to happen to you. So please leave for my peace of mind." Mayor Sailune begged.

"Well if it really bothers you if I stay... then I'll go!" Hallas took off running out the door as fast as his chicken legs could take him.

"Godspeed my comrade! Godspeed." Mayor Sailune waved at Hallas before turning his attentions to those that remained in the building within earshot. He picked up the intercom phone and turned it on. "Everyone may I have your attention please! If you aren't already aware there is a possible threat in the building and I ask that everyone please leave the building in a calm orderly fashion. We will be following our code blue procedure so everyone please convene at our designated meeting location across the street in the park. Start taking roll call to make sure everyone is together. If you notice someone missing please call them on a cell phone to confirm they are safely out of the building. If they aren't please urge them to stop whatever they are doing and come outside to the meeting spot."

It was a typical practice at city hall and all government buildings to have emergency drills that are done routinely twice a month. There was no excuse for anyone currently employed at city hall to not know what they were supposed to be doing a potential code blue. Even still Mayor Sailune still felt he should make that announcement. At the very least there was possibility of people in other parts of the building that might not be aware of the code blue.

But with everything said and done and everyone was warned with reminders of what to do that didn't stop the full blown panic from setting in. Drills were forgotten as well as manners. People pushed passed other people as everyone rushed to get out of the building as fast as they could. The problem began once Mayor Sailune said the words 'threat' and 'code blue'. Had Mayor Sailune said they were just doing a code blue drill everyone would just assume it was just a drill and not a real potential bomb threat. But by mentioning there being a potential threat everyone started to panic and forget everything they were supposed to do. When it came down to the fight or flight reflex common sense rarely won out and everyone was fleeing.

It wouldn't have been so bad had it been a code red and not a code blue. With red you knew it was fire. So even though it was dangerous you would likely see the threat before you encountered it. With blue or a bomb there was that scary uncertainty of where the threat was. A bomb could be hidden anywhere and could be set to go off at any time. You weren't safe till you put a good healthy distance between you and the building the bomb was supposed to be in. And even when the code blue threat was deemed a hoax people still didn't feel safe about going into a code blue building. What if the police got it wrong? What if the bomb was there all along and just well hidden?

Yes blue was a very frightening word. So frightening that Mayor Sailune could only stand there in stunned silence as he watched his people succumb to scared madness.

...

With all equipment in hand and packed into their cars, Lina, Amelia, Sylphiel, Filia, Xellos, Zelgadis and Gourry all headed out to their respective locations. Gourry with Sylphiel in Sylphiel's car, Xellos riding along with Filia (whom Lina didn't even give a chance to complain) and Amelia, Lina and Zelgadis took the Ghost Slayersmobile. It was times like this that Lina wished she had radios in all the cars. Cell phones were handy but radios would be better for this situation.

'Mental note, look into getting radios after all this is over.' Lina thought to herself. Another grim thought snuck up right behind it, 'if there is an after.'

Though Lina was quick to make plans as what do next for her and her crew she had no idea what to do with the book once they found it. Up until now they had only been playing catch up. The book was always a few steps ahead of them leaving the Ghost Slayers crew to clean up the mess. They had never a chance to get this close to the book before but that didn't make things easier. By virtue a book was just a book and not something that should be able to hurt anyone. But this wasn't just a book they were dealing with. What was it that was trapped inside? A jilted spirit? A demonic spirit? Or a trapped but a very much alive demon? Could their guns be effective on the blood stained pages of the book? Would destroying the book solve the problem or would it finally release whatever was trapped inside?

And what if they missed their chance again? What if the book got its final victim? Would the creature inside the book use the power of the magic square to unleash hell on earth? What could they do then?

Lina had to shake off those negative thoughts trying to eat away at her confidence. She needed to stay focused at the task at hand. If she went in assuming she was going to fail then she was going to fail no matter what. It was always Lina's mantra if you were going to face a dangerous foe or fight you were going to win no matter what. Losing wasn't an option. Lina wasn't a fool nor was a dead woman either.

'Somehow we're going to make it through this. We're going to win.' Lina decided.

...

"Well how do I look?" Naga said while twirling around in one of Sylphiel's extra Ghost Slayers uniforms. Since Sylphiel was shorter than Naga and not as busty the uniform was both too short on the legs and too tight around the chest. To compensate Naga tucked the pant legs into her high heeled boots and unzipped the front of the uniform till her chest was practically popping out.

Val swallow. "You look... hot..."

"I know I do though I think it's missing something..." Naga riffled around the spare stuff till she found one of the spare ray guns that Filia had been working on before all evil book mess started. The gun worked but the dial was broken so you had no idea what power setting you had the gun on. Also the battery life was considerably shorter than the other guns but it served Naga's purpose, the pose looking all sexy dangerous. "OHOHOHOHOHOH! Yes this is much better. Now if they call on me I'll be ready for some action!" Naga struck a fighting pose aiming the gun right at Slimer.

Slimer's eyes went wide in shock and quickly he hid behind Val.

"OHOHOHOH Why is he so afraid for? The gun isn't even on!" Naga held the gun up for Val to see.

Val gave the gun a sideways glance. "Um... the light is green... it's definitely on..."

"OHOHOHOHOH! Silly me it is!" Naga shut the gun off but still kept in her hands.

Even though the danger was averted Slimer still hid behind Val.


	56. Chapter 56

_Author's Notes: I realize after the recent events of Boston that my mentioning potential bomb threats in this fanfic could be considered insensitive. Believe me I have no idea that there would be a bombing when I posted chapter 55. It was merely a way for Lina and company to get everyone out of the threatened buildings. I am not trying to make light of the horrible events in Boston. My heart goes out to those who were hurt and those that lost someone in Boston._

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-six

By Relm

It was always hard when you were rushing to get somewhere and the world was working against you. This was the case with the cars that left Ghost Slayers HQ. Things had started out fine but as news spread about the potential 'bombing' in the three buildings the traffic went crazy. Anyone in the buildings or around them rushed to get away. This alone shouldn't have caused all the traffic woes but it wasn't just people trying to get away that was the issue. Lots of people were also trying to get to these areas. Some were valid people like emergency workers but some were just plain stupid.

The stupid ones were mostly armed with cameras and a strong disregard for personal safety. Some wanted the thrill of seeing destruction or being in potential danger. Others wanted to record the scene with hopes of cashing in on the disaster. The last group was the most intrusive all, the media. With all their equipment and personnel they could really muck things up. Getting the scoop was their job but the news people didn't make things easier in these sort of situations.

Lina was cursing them all at that moment. Though the victims of the demonic thus far hadn't been too important Lina couldn't help but shake the feeling it was Philonel that was the intended target. She wanted to keep an open mind and not be thinking so narrowly but it was hard. Throw in the potential victim's hysterical younger daughter in the car and it upped the urge to keep that less than open minded way of thinking.

In that moment there wasn't much she was thankful for but she was thankful that Amelia had stopped verbally freaking out. It never helped the driver if his or her passengers were yelling in the car. Lina had to near scream herself to get Amelia to shut up. Amelia had done what Lina asked but that didn't stop the youngest Ghost Slayer from being beside herself in fear. From the time she shut up Amelia had her head down and her hands together in silent prayer. Until she knew that her father was safe Amelia wasn't going to stop praying.

_BEEP BEEP!_

"Move already!" Lina screamed out her window as she honked her horn. "If these idiots don't start moving I'm going to get out of the car and beat the crap out of them!" She fumed while she impatiently tapped the steering wheel.

"Lina I don't think the cars right in front of us are the problem. The tie up seems to be blocks away from here." Zelgadis pointed out to her. Because of how hysterical Amelia had been before they had even got into the car Lina had relegated Amelia to the backseat with Zelgadis sitting in front.

"I don't care! This is so frustrating!" Lina growled. "It's almost quicker to get out the car and walk the whole dammed way!"

"It would be but the equipment kinda creates an issue." Zelgadis agreed. A quick look outside also proved to be in favor of Lina's assumption. A couple elderly woman putting along with their walkers had already passed them even though Lina had been two blocks ahead of them previously.

Lina readjusted her rear view mirror in vain as though that would make the traffic go faster. It didn't obviously but Lina felt like she needed to do something instead of just sitting there doing nothing. Looking into said mirror show the sight of Amelia in the backseat with her head down. "Amelia how are you doing?"

Amelia didn't answer but Lina could see but from the soundness moving of Amelia's lips that she was still praying.

"Amelia have you tried calling your father?" Zelgadis wondered.

Amelia looked up at Zelgadis with weary eyes. "Many times. I tried his cell phone, office phone and even his home phone on the off chance that he didn't go to work today. He's not answering any of them."

"Well that doesn't mean anything bad has happened to him." Zelgadis was quick to point out. He could feel Lina's eyes glaring holes into his head at the prospect of making Amelia feel worse.

"I know. My Father always forgets his cell phone in his office and he's rarely in his office. He's always hard to get a hold off. Any time I've called him at work I've had to talk through his secretary to get my messages to him." Amelia explained. "Everyone at City Hall must be freaking out because I can't even get a hold of Father's secretary!"

"Amelia don't start! We're on our way and we'll stop the book before it attacks anyone else!" Lina sighed and brought her gaze back to the congested road ahead of her. "If I still had my police siren I'd so put it on so I can get all the damned cars out of the way."

"You had a police siren?"

"Yeah..." Lina grumbled. "Till the dumb police took it away from me."

"What's the game plan once we figure out where the book is?" Zelgadis wondered.

"I don't know. I've been trying to figure out what to do. The simplest solution would be to just destroy the book before it can attack anyone else. If the book is destroyed that could destroy whatever is inside it and hopefully return everyone's bodies back." Lina explained.

"Or destroying the book could free whatever is trapped inside causing a greater threat than in its current state." Zelgadis countered.

Lina glared at Zelgadis. "Kill joy."

"Well we need to be thinking about all the possibilities. Running in blindly with guns a blazing isn't exactly a good plan Lina." Zelgadis reminded her.

"Okay then what do you suppose we do then?!"

"Well wouldn't it make more sense to try and catch the book to study it?"

"Yes but It's not like we can safely catch the damned thing! It extends a red hand out of its pages to attack its victims! We wouldn't be even able to get close!" Lina exclaimed.

"What if you destroy the book and the thing inside and I and the others don't get our bodies back?"

Lina let out a deep sigh. "I don't know Zelgadis. Really I'm sorry but I don't. I would love to be able to tell you that everything is going to okay but I can't. I have no idea what is going to happen. This is completely out of my knowledge base and sadly there isn't an expert I can call to ask. I'm the expert in this area. And the only thing I can think of doing is taking some readings with my scanner and the shooting the damned thing with my gun. And if it's a spirit of some kind hopefully I can coax it out of the book and into a containment box."

"So even with the best case scenario the other guys and I could be stuck like ghosts for forever." Zelgadis concluded grimly.

"Zel..."

"Doesn't matter." Zelgadis decided. "You'll go in there and shoot the book. Even if nothing gets fixed with me, Gourry, Xellos and Val then at the very least I'll know that no one else will be in danger. That's the important thing right? That the rest of Sailune is safe?"

"Mister Zelgadis is so brave!" Amelia burst out into tears. "Miss Lina we must prevail! We can let Mister Zelgadis and the others be trapped into a bodiless fate! The powers of justice and truth shall be our weapons and we will vanquish all evil!"

"Amelia shut up..." Lina grumbled. She herself had been moved by Zelgadis' declaration but Amelia had effectively ruined the mood.

...

Mayor Sailune was quite possibly the most noble and self sacrificing person in the city. He knew of the danger he could be potentially be facing if he didn't get out of the building soon but still he stayed. As in their many safety drills Philonel usually appointed himself the safety captain. It a was duty he did with the utmost pride and one that most wished was delegated to someone else. There was many other people working in City Hall that could be the safety captain but no one else volunteered. For you see volunteering be the captain meant in the case of an evacuation you had to stay behind to make sure everyone was out of the building. This meant checking and double checking each room to see if they were devoid of people. It was a duty that ensured that everyone in the building got out safely but also put the captain at risk.

It was in this sort of a situation having a personnel list handy would be helpful. However given that many visitors came and went through City Hall everyday and didn't bother to properly sign the sign-in sheet it made having a list moot.

Room by room Philonel checked each room looking for stray people. For the most part the building seemed to be empty but he did find a few stragglers in a couple of the rooms. Those people had either been too engrossed in their work to hear the warning over the PA or had thought it was just a drill.

"Okay that clears this floor. Just six more to go." Philonel declared.

...

"I swear the traffic is getting WORSE!" Lina grumbled.

"Well if the media had gotten wind of this 'story' then they could all be going towards City Hall because it's the most important of the targets. At the very least if the 'real' bomb was in another building and went off the reporters would want to get Mayor Sailune's reaction to it." Zelgadis rationalized.

"Stupid media... STUPID PEOPLE! GET OFF THE ROAD!" Lina screamed out her window.

_RING RING!_

Lina fished her phone out and gave it a look. It was Filia. "Hello?" Lina answered while putting her phone on speakerphone.

"_Hey Lina it's Filia." _Filia's voice sounded less than impressed but then she was driving with Xellos in the car so that's bound to be expected.

"Filia are you at the community center already?!"

"_Yes just swinging by it." _

"Really?! Grrrr... We're still stuck in traffic! We're not even close to City Hall yet! Did Xellos get any reactions from the community center?"

"_No. Though the stupid idiot did 'pretend' to have a reaction just to scare me. Makes wish I brought my taser gun with me so I could smack the damned fool." _

"You'll be able to beat the crap out of Xellos all you want when we finally fix this whole mess."

"_Assuming all goes well... Have you heard from Sylphiel yet?" _

"No. With how bad the traffic is I'll bet Sylphiel and Gourry are stuck."

"_No doubt. So since the book isn't at the community center do you want me to start heading towards the firehouse or City Hall?" _

"More likely Sylphiel will get to the firehouse before you get anywhere close to either destination so just start heading towards City Hall. If it turns out the book is at the firehouse I'll call you right away."

"_Okay. I'll talk to you soon." _

"Bye." Lina hung up her phone. "Well at least that's one place we can write off." She mumbled to herself. Another quick look to the rear view mirror showed that Amelia was still silently praying in the backseat.

"In hindsight it might have been more beneficial to have all four of you take separate cars with one person just waiting in-between points to use as backup." Zelgadis rationalized.

Lina shot Zelgadis a sideways glance before leaning over to whisper to him. "You really think I can trust Amelia to go somewhere by herself right now?"

Zelgadis looked at the backseat and grimaced. "Point taken."

"We'll all get there in the end regardless who gets there first. As long as everyone heeds the bomb threat and evacuates the building we can take as much time as we need." Lina reminded Zelgadis.

"You know Lina I had a thought..."

Lina glared at Zelgadis again. "I know I'm going to regret asking this but what were you thinking Zel?"

"Maybe this book is going to end up at one of these three locations but that doesn't mean it has appeared or will appear right away."

"Your thinking makes me mad. Stop thinking." Lina threatened him.

"Seriously Lina we don't know how long it takes for the book to show up. It could take days, weeks or months even. It took for Xellos to get attacked after me. Yes the time seems to have shortened with each attack but still really we could be heading to these three locations and end up thinking they are not because no one reacts. But in reality they still could be though at a later time." Zelgadis explained.

"Stop talking!"

"But really Lina-"

"I DON'T CARE! EVERYONE IN THIS CAR WILL BE QUIET UNTIL I SAY SO!" Lina yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Yes Lina/Miss Lina." Zelgadis and Amelia said at the same time.

Inside in her head Lina was fuming. 'Damn that Zelgadis and his stupid logical thinking! As if I didn't already have enough to worry about!'


	57. Chapter 57

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-seven

By Relm

The traffic didn't appear to be getting any better and neither did Lina's patience. Her grip on the steering wheel was getting much tighter and her knuckles were going white as a result. To make matters worse the partly cloudy day they were supposed to have had turned into a cloudless day with the sun beating down hard. This did not help Lina's mood one bit.

"Maybe should just walk it..." Zelgadis mumbled while looking outside.

"Are you going to help carry the equipment all the way there?!" Lina snapped at him.

"Well... maybe I could try... if I concentrated hard enough..."

Lina rolled her eyes. "Shut up! Don't say stupid things! Besides we go walking out there on the street with all those damned people someone is bound to notice something is different with you and freak out."

"Okay fine... you don't need to be so snippy."

"Yes I do! I'm annoyed and it's hot in here!" Lina growled.

"Miss Lina is always snippy like that when she's annoyed. Don't take it personally Mister Zelgadis." Amelia assured him.

"CAN IT AMELIA!" Lina yelled.

_RING RING!_

Lina looked at her phone and frowned. "It's Sylphiel. She better have good news. Hello?"

"_Hi Miss Lina. I just got to the firehouse. The traffic is crazy!" _

"Yeah tell me about it. I'm still trying to get to city hall but we're stuck. So is the book at the firehouse?"

"_No I don't think so. Gourry isn't reacting at all. In fact he's fallen asleep! Gourry wake up! He was awake when I started calling you..." _Sylphiel sighed.

"Okay then that's two down..."

"_So I guess then Miss Filia and Mister Xellos didn't find anything at the community center..." _

"Yup that's right. So that just leaves City Hall. Or City Hell in this case seeing how it's taking forever to get there." Lina grumbled.

"_How's Amelia doing?"_

Lina did a quick spy of the backseat of the car. Amelia wasn't quietly praying anymore. Instead the youngest member of the Ghost Slayers crew was staring out the window while nervously biting her nails. It was clear that she was trying not to show that she was listening in hard to what she could hear of Lina's conversation. "Well I'll say she's been better."

"_I'll try and get to City Hall as fast as I can." _

"Can you do me a favour?"

"_Sure what do you need Miss Lina?"_

"Could you call Filia to let her know that there's nothing at the firehouse. Just in case for whatever reason she decides to head there instead of City Hall."

"_Alright Miss Lina I will." _

"Okay see you soon." Lina hung up her phone.

"It's at City Hall!" Amelia exclaimed as soon as Lina put her phone down. "It's after my father I know it is!"

"Amelia calm down! We're already heading to City Hall and now so are Filia and Sylphiel. We'll get there in time. Your father is a stickler for protocols and safety! He wouldn't do anything stupid you know that!" Lina snapped at Amelia.

"You're right he wouldn't do anything stupid. He'd leave the building right away following procedure." Amelia agreed. Lina's point did make her feel better but still she worried. 'I hope Father isn't in City Hall...'

...

"Okay that's the last room on this floor." Mayor Sailune said to himself as went through his mental floor plan of City Hall. "I still can't believe what Janesly and Marric were doing in that bathroom stall! And during a code blue too! But I suppose sins of the flesh can be more sinful with the threat of danger."

Janesly and Marric weren't the only ones Mayor Sailune had found doing things they shouldn't have. In one case he found one of his more petite employees eating the cake they were going to have later to celebrate 50 accident free days at work. Now seeing a slender woman eating a piece of cake wasn't that big of surprise but seeing that same woman eat an entire slab cake by herself was. Honestly Mayor Sailune didn't know where the woman put it all. Some people were just blessed with good genes.

Thankfully Mayor Sailune didn't find anyone stealing or doing anything particularly illegal (hanky panky aside of course). These sorts of situations tending to bring the immoral opportunistic people out of the woodwork. One always wants to believe that the people they choose to work for them are honorable, but that wasn't always the situation. It pleased Mayor Sailune that his people were good honest people.

Since he was always surest of the people in his floor going through the proper procedures Mayor Sailune was checking the floors in a way that he'd end up on his floor last. At present he had only two floors left to check.

The last stop on Mayor Philonel Sailune's route was going to be his office. Where from there he will pick up his cell phone from his desk and leave the building knowing every one of his people were safe.

Well that was Mayor Sailune's plans. But a certain blood stained book had either ideas. And its ideas were not very good or honorable. And the worst of it all was?

It wasn't going to end with Mayor Philonel Sailune. It was going to start with him.

...

"Okay that's it! I'm done with this shit!" Lina yelled and pulled the car into the next available parking spot.

"Lina what are you doing?!"

"Miss Lina we can't park the car! We have to save my Father!" Amelia cried out while tugging on Lina's sleeve.

"We're not getting anywhere driving. We're going to get out of the car and run it!" Lina declared.

"But Miss Lina you said that it was too far with all the equipment!" Amelia protested. "And what about Mister Zelgadis? The people on the street will freak out if they see him!"

"That's what I'm counting on." Lina said with evil glee while shooting that gleeful look Zelgadis' way.

Zelgadis frowned with deep concern furrowing into his forehead. "I don't think I like the sound of your voice and the look on your face... what you planning on doing and what does it have to do with me?"

"Nothing. We're just going to run all the way there." Lina stated cryptically.

"Oh? And everyone is just going to move out of the way for us?" Zelgadis retorted sarcastically.

"Yup. They will have to. When they see two Ghost Slayers screaming and chasing a 'dangerous' and 'frightening' ghost running amuck on the street they will have to get out of the way." Lina stated with much glee.

"There's a dangerous ghost?! Where?! WHERE?!" Amelia looked around frantically.

"Amelia... she means me..." Zelgadis said with a sigh.

"But you're not scary and you wouldn't hurt anyone... And technically you're not even a ghost." Amelia mused.

"That's not the point Amelia!" Lina snapped. "He doesn't need to be a bad evil spirit he just needs to make everyone think he is."

"And how exactly am I going to do that?" Zelgadis wondered in a less than impressed tone.

"I don't know... Just groan and roar while waving your hands in the air."

Zelgadis just glared at Lina. "Are you serious? That sounds like a damned zombie! Don't you have anything better to suggest than that?! You deal with scary ghosts for a living!"

"Well I don't pay attention to that stuff! Ghosts don't scare me! And even if they did I don't exactly see them running around to know what they would look like doing it." Lina countered.

"Slimer runs around. Or flies around. He scared me when I first saw him." Amelia admitted.

"And what does Slimer do to scare people?"

"Waves his hands around, slobbers, says boo and makes silly noises and faces."

"That's not scary that's stupid!" Zelgadis exclaimed.

"Well he scared me..." Amelia mumbled.

"Zel just run. I'll take care of the rest. But first I need to call Filia and Sylphiel. There's no way they are going to get to City Hall by car so they may as well do the same thing." Lina picked up her phone after she put the car in park.

"Call Officer Zoanna first." Zelgadis suggested.

"Why?"

"So that when we all come there running he'll know what's going on." Zelgadis explained.

"Yeah that's probably a good idea..."

...

"GET OUT OF THE WAY GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Lina screamed as she and Amelia ran down the street.

"IT'S A GHOST!" Amelia also screamed. "A SCARY SCARY GHOST!"

Zelgadis just rolled his eyes as he ran.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!" A chorus of screams started as people immediately jumped out of the way.

"GET BACK HERE YOU DANGEROUS CREATURE!" Lina 'demanded'.

"IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE I DEMAND THAT YOU SURRENDER!" Amelia added.

"AH GHOST!" One woman cried out.

"OH MY GOD THEY ARE REAL!" A man exclaimed.

"RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!" Yet another woman screamed.

Though Zelgadis found this incredibly silly he had to admit, it was working. Everyone was moving out of the way for him. They still had many blocks to go but they were making good time. It wouldn't take them long now for them to reach their goal. There shouldn't be anything in the way now. It was smooth sailing from this point.

Or at least that should have been the case but as Zelgadis soon discovered things were not going to be that easy.

It started out as a dull ache in his chest. It didn't concern Zelgadis very much as he was running after all. Any normal person would get winded after running for a while. But it wasn't the feeling of being winded though he was starting to having problems breathing too.

The main reason why Zelgadis, Xellos and Gourry had came with each of the Ghost Slayers was to gauge their reactions to potential demonic book attack sites. So as such the closer Zelgadis got to City Hall the more his body protested it.

Zelgadis wasn't alone either. As soon as Filia and Sylphiel were in running distance they ditched their cars and followed suit. Their 'ghost' pair running while they 'chased' after them. Both Gourry and Xellos were starting to feel rotten as they neared the building.

"Miss Lina... Mister... Zelgadis..." Amelia started to puff out as she ran. "Is..."

"Acting... weird? I know! The... book... it's in...City... Hall!" Lina frowned. It was what she had expected to happen. Zelgadis could have been right in that the book could not show up right away at one of the three locations. So for that Lina should have been relieved to know they were finally going to not only catch up to the book but even get ahead of it. But relief wasn't what Lina was feeling at that moment.

Sure she was getting winded running through the streets yelling her head off while carrying heavy equipment but it was more than that. Doing any one of her assignments had risks but they didn't scare her for the most part. Yes she had the thrill of the chaise coursing through her veins most of the time but right now that thrill was ice cold with dread.

To think the worst she had ever had to deal with was angry poltergeists before. But how was she going to handle a murderous entity within a book written with blood? Was this a ghost? Or was it an honest to god demonic spirit? Lina wasn't sure how this was going to play out. Would they triumph or would they fail?

Whether they win or lose this was it.


	58. Chapter 58

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-eight

By Relm

Mayor Sailune felt a sense of pride as he neared his floor. Aside from just a few of his co-workers still lingering in the building it was clear. All he had left to do was check his floor and then he would get out of there.

As Mayor Sailune walked a few feet beyond one of the many phones in the building it started ringing. But the Mayor was too focused on his task at hand and a little too far away to hear the phone so he didn't stop to answer.

...

On the other end of that ringing phone stood Officer Zangulus Zoanna praying that this time someone was going to answer it. But like the last few attempts he got nothing. With a defeated sigh Zangulus hung up the phone again wondering what the heck he should do.

Since Officer Zoanna was aware of what was really going on he was trying to be ever diligent about getting everyone out of City Hall. He already knew that the book wasn't in the community center or the firehouse because Lina had called and told him so. The book had to be in city hall and that meant it was very important that the building was completely empty.

However as Zangulus scrambled to get confirmation of the emptiness of the building he discovered from a few late leavers that Mayor Philonel Sailune was still inside doing sweeps. The mayor was known to be a stickler for safety so in that respect Zangulus admired the guy. There weren't too many men that would be so selfless to put themselves at risk to ensure everyone else's safety but in this instance it was a hindrance.

Zangulus had tried numerous times to get through to Mayor Sailune's cell phone, work phone or any number of phones within City Hall. He had been unsuccessful on all counts. Zangulus even got a hold a megaphone they used for hostage situations and tried to It was getting the point that Zangulus just wanted to run into the building himself, grab the mayor and get out. That was something that Zangulus couldn't do however because as far as his fellow policemen were concerned this was a real bomb threat situation. The only people that were going to be allowed into the building from this point on were from the bomb squad which Zangulus wasn't apart off.

Because of the three spot bomb threat the bomb squad was stretched a little thin heading to the three locations. Even though they had police sirens at their disposal the traffic was an issue for them. One could assume that the traffic was caused by the commotion the potential bomb threats created but that wasn't the only thing tying things up. Increased traffic had caused a number of car accidents tying up roads all together. It was a perfect storm for a real city wide disaster with the police stretched thin trying to contain it. In fact there were only a handful of officers outside City Hall managing the crowds.

Ultimately this was all pointless as there was no real bomb to begin with. It was extremely frustrating but there wasn't much he could do. Even if Zangulus could tell everyone the truth that it wasn't a bomb that was the threat was an evil person eating book it wouldn't matter. There was no way anyone would believe him. This put Zangulus in a compromising position. He just hoped that Lina and the other Ghost Slayers would get there soon though he was dubious as to how he was going to get them through.

In his conversation with Lina on the phone the head Ghost Slayer had assured Zangulus that she had that part of the plan covered. He didn't know what it was but he had a feeling that he didn't want to know.

"Chief we need to get in there! Mayor Sailune is still inside the building!" Zangulus protested for the hundredth time.

"I know that Zangulus but we can't break protocol. We have to wait for the bomb unit." The chief explained.

Zangulus sighed and tried calling City Hall again. As expected he got no answer.

...

Lina, Amelia and Zelgadis had only a few more blocks to go but it might as well have been a hundred. Lina and Amelia were really getting fatigued carrying their equipment and Zelgadis was really feeling effects of the book.

The closer he got the more Zelgadis want to stop and curl into a tight ball. It wasn't even the case of him feeling tired, he was in pain. Since waking up in a ghost like state Zelgadis and pain wasn't something that went together. Outside sources aside Zelgadis really didn't feel the aches and fatigue he would get as a normal living person. But this pain he was currently feeling wasn't even what was normally associated with running too fast for too long.

His chest hurt of course and so did his legs but it was more than that. Every inch of transparent skin that covered his body hurt. It was a prickly burning sensation that made Zelgadis wonder if this was what it felt like to be slowly dissolved by acid. He kept wanting to rub off whatever it was that was burning him but there was nothing there to touch. Just like there was nothing he could do about the screaming headache or the sharp pains stabbing him in the stomach.

It hurt to move and even to breathe but he couldn't stop. Zelgadis knew that Lina and Amelia were counting on him to be strong and to keep on going. If he stopped then Lina and Amelia would have to too. Because then the crowds would start gathering instead of getting out of the way preventing them from progressing further. And if they couldn't get to City Hall in time the book could claim its next victim which may or may not be Amelia's father Mayor Philonel Sailune. That threat alone should have been motivation enough for Zelgadis but there was one more horrible thing to think of. What would happen if the book got its fifth victim and complete the magic square? Would Sailune descend into a swirling vortex of evil and destruction? And would it just be Sailune? Could the whole world be doomed?

Now it wasn't just Lina and Amelia that were heading towards City Hall but if they couldn't get there that would be half of the Ghost Slayers crew. At the very least Lina and Amelia needed to make it.

"Miss-Lina... how... are... we... going to... get... past... all the... police?" Amelia huffed as they ran.

"Smoke... bombs!" Lina explained. "Filia... and... Sylphiel... have... them... too."

"Miss... Lina! If... we... do... that... we're... probably... going to... get... arrested!" Amelia protested.

"Zangulus... can... sort... that... one... out!" Lina brushed it off. "You... want... to... save... your... dad... right?"

"Yes... of... course!"

"Then... shut... up! Zel... you... okay?"

Zelgadis wanted to answer Lina but it was taking all of his concentration to keep running and not falling down to the ground in a pathetic heap.

Lina frowned. She remembered how Zelgadis reacted before when it came to book. He looked like he was going to disappear. Lina had no idea how bad things were for him now. 'He's not like what he was back then though. He can talk hell he can even pick of things! He must be stronger and able to stand it. Still he must be going through hell. At least we're almost there.'

...

Coming from two other directions Filia and Xellos and Sylphiel and Gourry were also nearing City Hall. The two sets of pairs were running and screaming just like Lina and Amelia were doing with Zelgadis. And like Zelgadis Gourry and Xellos were also dealing with the effects of getting closer to the book. The only difference was that neither man was feeling the effects as strongly as Zelgadis. It could be because Zelgadis had been stuck in his ghost like state for a much longer time. It was still hard for them but they were able to catch up a little faster.

"Miss... Lina!" Sylphiel called out as she and Gourry turned a corner.

"Good... you're... here... too!" Lina exclaimed.

"Me... too!" Filia called out as she also turned a corner.

"Almost... there... get... your... smoke... bombs... ready! Throw... on... my... signal!"

...

Over at the police barricade in front of the building Zangulus just happened to look behind and see the four Ghost Slayers and what looked like three ghosts heading their way. With something in their hands they were ready to throw...

'Ah crap...' Was Zangulus' thought as those projectiles hit the ground exploding with big pink plumes of smoke. Why pink? Well Sylphiel had originally made them after all and she liked the idea of pink rather than the usual white.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Zangulus heard one of his fellow police officers exclaim before starting to cough.

"WHO THREW THAT?!"

"IS THAT OFFICER GABERIEVE?"

"GOURRY THREW A SMOKE BOMB?!"

"THAT CAN'T BE GOURRY I CAN SEE RIGHT THROUGH HIM!"

"GOURRY'S A GHOST?!"

"THERE'S TWO MORE GHOSTS!"

"SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Zangulus just shook his head listening to his fellow officers yell at each other in all the confusion while covering his mouth with his sleeve. 'I guess this is what she meant by 'don't worry I've got it covered'... How the hell am I going to explain this one to the chief?'

...

They got only ten steps into the building when the three 'ghosts' collapsed on the ground.

"Miss Lina!" Sylphiel exclaimed while rushing to Gourry's aid.

"It's the book!" Lina mused with a grimace. "The evil energy must be wreaking havoc on their systems."

"What are we going to do?"

"Leave them." Lina decided.

"We can't do that! They're right by the door! When the smoke clears everyone will be able to see them!" Amelia exclaimed.

"They saw them already Amelia! And who cares what the people outside think?! Nothing is going to matter if we can't get to the book in time before it attacks someone else! We have to go! We have to leave them! This is our only chance! Let's go!" Lina ordered her three workers to follow her as she took off running. She didn't even bother to see if they were behind her Lina didn't even have time for that.

"Miss Lina how are we going to find out where the book is?! This building has many floors!" Sylphiel wondered.

"We hit Phil's office first." Lina decided.

"Why there?"

"I'd like to split up and check each floor room by room but we can't afford to separate. It's too dangerous. So if we hit Phil's office first we can put Amelia's mind at ease while also grabbing the blueprints to the building."

"Why would the building's blue prints be in Mayor Sailune's office?" Filia wondered.

"Daddy likes keep copies in his office so he can better plan out safety drills." Amelia explained.

...

With his last stop finished Mayor Philonel Sailune officially declared City Hall clear. Now all that was left was to go into his office, grab his things and leave. He should have been more concerned with the gravity of the situation but Mayor Sailune was just too relieved to care about his own life. Everyone of his employees were outside and safe and that's all that mattered to him.

"Hmm... that's strange..." Mayor Sailune mumbled to himself as he went into his office. "Where did that come from?"

The item in question was a book sitting on his desk. Mayor Sailune had several books in his office so many so that any one particular book could get lost in the pile. But the Mayor knew all of his books and this one wasn't one of his own.

"Did someone leave a book here?" Mayor Sailune mumbled to himself as he picked up the suspicious book. It looked old and the writing was completely foreign to him. "That's very odd... the words are written in red ink... or wait is it...? Is it written in blood...? How ghastly..."

"DADDY!" Amelia screamed as she and the others ran into the Mayor's office. "GET AWAY FROM THAT BOOK!"

Mayor Sailune Philonel looked at his daughter in pure confusion right as that horrible red hand emerged from the pages and grabbed onto the Mayor's arm...

...

Down stairs in the lobby of City Hall Zelgadis, Gourry and Xellos all started screaming in utter pain. One by one the victims all vanished.

...

"VAL?!" Naga screamed as she looked around frantically for her boyfriend. Val had suddenly started screaming before he disappeared too...


	59. Chapter 59

_Author's Notes: A warning to you all we are getting very close to the end of Ghost Slayers. About time too given there's been so many chapters already! This isn't the last chapter but we are getting close._

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Fifty-nine

By Relm

Knowing what they were up against and how it attacked its victims didn't prepare Lina and company for the sight before them. There stood Mayor Philonel Sailune screaming in pain as the blood red glowing hand grabbed onto him from inside the book.

Amelia, Filia and Sylphiel were all in shock that they couldn't move. No one wants to see someone they know being attacked by some horrible thing. Most would like to believe that they would spring into action right away and stop it but the reality was shock but those thoughts to a halt more often than naught.

Thankfully the Ghost Slayers had Lina as their leader. She herself had seen a rewind of Zelgadis' attack from the book so she knew what she was expecting. Shock would not get its clammy icy hands on her today, she was prepared. As soon as Lina saw that hand grab Mayor Sailune Lina had her gun out ready to shoot.

There was no way to know if shooting the book mid attack would actually help the situation but Lina had no other aces up her sleeve. She had hoped to get to the book before anyone else was attacked but as usual with her life things never went the way she wanted them. So putting all her hope on a prayer, Lina fired her gun.

Lina had aimed for the book and not the person the book was attacking and perhaps that's the reason why this action was anything less than successful. Aiming for the person being attacked might have had a repelling effect on the glowing hand causing it to hide back in its shell of leather and blood stained paper. But no Lina had aimed for the book because it had made perfect sense for her to do so. And why not? The book was a book after all. Destroying said book should have meant destroying whatever was inside. It should have but this was just another thing not going right for Lina. For as soon as the energy blast shot out of her gun a second hand emerged from the book of evil. This second hand parried the attack sending it back at Lina. The Ghost Slayers redheaded leader was sent flying backwards from the blast and she crashed against the office room wall like a ragdoll being carelessly tossed about.

"MISS LINA!" Amelia cried out.

Lina heard her youngest worker cry out her name but she made no effort to respond. If she did open her mouth to speak Lina was sure she would just curse or scream. She had heard a crack when she hit the wall and the pain in her side confirmed it for her. At least one of her ribs had been cracked from the impact against the wall. The pain was worse as she breathed further adding the theory. Lina hadn't been in the greatest physical shape due to injuries she had previously sustained so she was surprised by this new level of hurt. Something like this was bound to happen and it wasn't the first time she had cracked a rib. What did surprise Lina was the minor pain she had felt from the deflection of her gun. Sure being shocked by one of the Ghost Slayers' ray guns would hurt like hell on its lower settings but Lina had set hers to max when she shot at the book. If anything Lina should have been unconscious or dead even. Not awake and pondering the situation.

Pain aside the plan was a fail and Lina expected in moments Mayor Sailune would disappear just as the others had after their attacks. And then the book would fall and disappear itself before it hit the ground. That is what should have happened as Lina looked up pathetically from the floor. As it seemed the book had other plans.

Mayor Sailune stopped screaming but the book didn't let go. It used both of its hands to hold onto the burly Mayor. Red energy crackled all around him as whatever creature that was trapped inside the book emerged from the blood stained pages and absorbed into Mayor Sailune. Once all the red light was absorbed the book fell to the ground with a deft thud. Its pages open for all to see. Gone away was the crimson ink, now only bone white pages remained. Whatever what was written was now bare.

"Daddy?" Amelia called out timidly to her father. Fear gripped at Amelia tightly as she looked on at her father. It was so tight that Amelia couldn't feel herself breathe. Or maybe she was holding her breath? Either way she was horrified with the horrible scenario that was playing out in her head. Was the demonic thing inside him?

Mayor Philonel Sailune had closed his eyes when he had started screaming. He had been in blinding pain so it didn't seem strange that he had shut them tightly the moment the glowing red hand had grasped him. But as he stood there now he didn't appear to be in pain anymore and yet his eyes still remained closed. The smile that slowly crept up his mustached face gave allusion to the purpose of his closed eyes. It had started out as a small smirk that didn't all too friendly and as it progressed it got wider and more sinister. By the time it had reached full peak it was like someone had stretched Mayor Sailune's smile so far that it made his face look like it was made of rubber. It was twisted and menacing but paired with those blood red glowing eyes of his just gave everyone in the room the shivers.

"That's not your father anymore Amelia." Lina grunted as she struggled to get to her feet while favouring her right side where she had hit the wall.

For whatever reason the creature that now lived inside Mayor Sailune found what Lina said as funny as the creature laughed out loud. It wasn't a joyous laugh but one that made one think of metal being massacred in a blender. It was hard pressed to even call it a laugh as it just sounded so sickeningly strange but the creature danced Mayor Sailune like a puppet making the man throw his head backwards and convulsing in a manner that looked very much like when the Mayor was roaring with laughter.

"What are we going to do?" Sylphiel wondered as looked to Lina with fear and concern in her eyes. Fear because they were possibly in great danger and concern for Amelia's father's life. Firing on a ghost was one thing but a possessed person was another. Whatever action they took against the creature they were also taking against Mayor Sailune.

Lina's teeth were gritted as she pondered their options. Option one, fire at Phil. Yes that would probably hurt or kill the Mayor but Lina knew that if Mayor Sailune could speak he would demand they fire on him. Philonel Sailune wasn't the type of person to be okay with someone using himself to harm others. The man would rather die than to be the cause for another's suffering. Option two, try to exorcise the creature out of Mayor Sailune. Even though Lina dealt with ghosts for a living she was a real religious person. She lacked the patience and virtue of priestess or shrine maiden and she knew no exorcism rituals. Lina always relied on science when dealing with the supernatural. Plus she had no idea what sort of creature this was. Was it even a spirit? Or was it something else? Would a standard or an extra strength exorcism even work on this thing? Exorcisms were dangerous enough to start off with let alone when they go south. Option three, run like hell. Of the three options this one was probably the smartest. If you didn't know how to beat an opponent then run away to safety so you can think of a solution. And Lina and company had no idea how to deal with the thing to start off with at it was.

Just like when Lina talks she was also fast when it came to thinking. She pondered all three options within just a few blinks of an eye. And even though she came to a decision quickly it wasn't fast enough to stop the situation from getting worse. For in that time Lina took to think of what they should do the creature had summoned forth its victims. One by one Zelgadis, Xellos, Gourry and Val all appeared before the possessed Mayor. The four men looked terrified and seemed to be screaming though not a sound could be heard. And as quickly as they appeared they too were absorbed into the possessed body of Mayor Philonel Sailune.

"NO! GOURRY!" Sylphiel cried out running in vain to try and grab Gourry's hand before he was completely absorbed. She didn't get far as Filia and Amelia grabbed her pulling back keeping her from being attacked/absorbed too.

Another round of metallic laughter and poof the Mayor was gone.

"Gourry... no..." Sylphiel crumpled to the ground with tears flowing like rivers out of her eyes.

Filia's bottom lip quivered as she too felt the urge to cry. Seeing Xellos in that way really tugged at her in a way she didn't like to be tugged. She hated it so Filia bit hard on that rebellious bottom lip and brought out her old friends anger and rage. "Where the hell did that monster go?!"

"The house..." Lina replied feeling sick to her stomach saying it. Things were bad much more then she thought they would get. If the creature could teleport then it could already be at the ghost magnet house. And if it was already there then there was no hope left. They were hooped seven ways to Sunday. Failure loomed heavily over Lina's shoulders but as much as the fiery redhead wanted to succumb to self pity it inspired she knew she couldn't. Better to go out fighting than to just lay down and die. "We have to get to the house!"

"But Lina our cars aren't close and the building is surrounded by cops!" Filia exclaimed. "How the hell are we going to get there fast?!"

"Police escort." Lina replied with a dangerous smile gracing her lips. Oh she was going to owe Zangulus big time but they was potentially the end of the world here. He was going to have to cut her some slack. 'He's going to hate me big time for this.' Lina thought to herself as she whipped out her phone.

...

Inside Ghost Slayers HQ the sudden disappearance of Val was sending Naga in a tailspin of worry and confusion as she and Slimer looked around frantically for Val.

"Where did he go?! Where did he go?!" Naga kept asking over and over.

Slimer, upset that she was upset, could only shake his head as he was just as confused as she was.

The pair checked all through the building not finding anything till they eventually ended up back into the office where the Ghost Slayers had had their last meeting. All of their notes were still all over the table.

During that whole meeting Naga hadn't really been paying attention as she wasn't a Ghost Slayer she was an actress. This stuff was a little over her head as it was and there wasn't much she could do about anything. She trusted that her sister and the rest of the Ghost Slayers would handle things and everything would be okay. But now that Val had mysteriously disappeared she wasn't so sure.

Naga had no way of knowing whatever Amelia and others had gone off to deal with had anything to do with Val's sudden disappearance but that's what her gut had told her. It had been awful seeing him screaming in pain like that. It was just like when she had lost him the first time. After that happened Naga had called her sister. It had been the right thing to do at the time and the right thing now.

Naga was just about to do that when her eyes fell upon the map on the table. In the back of Naga's mind she heard Lina's annoying voice talking about a house in the middle of the star on the map. Naga couldn't quite remember exactly what the details were about this spot but she knew this was the place they were going to have to go to if things went south.

With her phone back in her pocket Naga got up and smoothed out the lines on her borrowed Ghost Slayers jumpsuit. She had a look of determination on her face as held up the ray gun in her hands. This dress up Ghost Slayer was going to become the real thing.

"Alright Slimer Naga the white serpent is going to get her man back! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH!"

Slimer wasn't quite sure what had the busty woman so happy but if she was happy then so was he.

...

"You do realize I'm going to have to take you four down the station afterwards and actually arrest you." Zangulus reminded the Ghost Slayer quartet as they raced down the street in his squad car with sirens.

"Yeah yeah if we don't succeed in getting this catastrophe solved there won't be an afterwards." Lina retorted while wincing. With each bumpy spot on the road the car jumped slightly causing Lina pain and discomfort each time the vehicle hit the ground.

Zangulus gave Lina a quick sideways glance before looking back at the road in front of him. "I should really be taking you to a hospital and not to the one residential neighborhood in the middle of the city."

"It's just a little cracked rib nothing to get all worked up over. They'll just give me some pain killers and a brace or something. Keep your eyes on the road and try and avoid those damned pot holes!"

"Why are you wanting to go to this house for? Isn't the book at City Hall?"

"It was in City Hall but whatever was in the thing has gotten out and that neighbourhood is where has headed." Lina explained.

"How do you know this?"

"Educated guess." Lina sighed. She was anxious really anxious. Even though Zangulus was going as fast as he could it didn't feel fast enough for the situation. If they didn't get there soon who knows what was going to happen. Resting in her lap was the book the monster had left behind. The pages were bare of ink but Lina knew there was still power within its leather bindings. If they couldn't get this thing into one of their containment boxes then Lina had a feeling that the book might be their only hope.

Outside in the skies above a storm was brewing. The clouds were gathering in a dark angry swirl threatening to touch down on the cursed ground below.


	60. Chapter 60

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Sixty

By Relm

Bomb threats, ghost running rampant in the streets and now swirling masses of dark black ominous clouds... To those that were religious they might have assumed this was a coming apocalypse. The more cynical ones would just assume it was a sign of the times, things were going to shit because the world was already heading in that direction.

Lina couldn't say for certain if this would be the end of the world but the chances were getting higher of it being so with each passing moment. She had no idea what sort of things were already happening in that neighborhood. The only things she could guess where from what she could see from the skies above.

The clouds were larger now and much darker. They threatened to expand and swallow the sky whole. Never in Lina's life had she seen clouds that dark even on the stormiest of days. It made Lina think of those natural disaster movies where ferocious hurricanes and mountain sized tornados destroying whole cities in a matter of minutes. It could have been the potential horror that made her shiver but the temperature could also be to blame for that one.

Even though spring wasn't always the warmest of seasons it was far colder than it should have been and it got colder still as Lina and company raced to their destination. With each exhale of breath more plumes of white became evident. It felt like they were driving out of spring and right back into the winter they had previously left behind. There was even little bits of white starting to fall on the ground outside the car.

"Is that snow?" Amelia wondered looking outside the car's window.

Lina shook her head. "No it's coming down too fast and hard. It's hail."

"Doesn't that usually come during a thunder storm?"

A large flash of light and a loud boom answered Amelia's question.

"I'm going to have to slow down." Zangulus warned them. "With this crazy weather the visibility is getting worse. If I keep driving like this I might get us into an accident."

"No you can't slow down!" Lina protested. "We need to get to that house quickly!"

Zangulus gritted his teeth. His better judgement said to just ignore Lina and do what he thought was best. But the nagging voice in the back of his head reminded him of the seriousness of the situation and all the high speed driving courses he had to take. He was already trained to drive fast in erratic situations. As long as he remembered the things he was taught he should be fine.

That would have been the case except that was when they hit that patch of black ice on the road and started to swerve around.

"HOLD ON!" Zangulus cried out as he tried to take back control of the car.

Zangulus' police car swerved around in circles threatening to overturn with each spin around. It was scary but somehow Zangulus regained control and got the car to a safe stop.

"Damn..." Lina muttered under breath. "That was close."

"What caused the car to go out of control like that?" Sylphiel wondered while trying to calm her racing heart.

"The road is icy." Zangulus explained.

"How can the road be icy?! It's April for crying out loud!" Filia exclaimed.

"Look outside Filia! Does this look like typical April weather?!" Lina muttered sarcastically.

Looking outside proved Lina's point. Besides the dark clouds, thunder and lightning, hail, and icy roads there were now gale force winds threatening to knock over trees and snow to contend with. This wasn't your typical April weather. But this winter dusted area wasn't the whole of Sailune. Much of the city was still warm with the sun beating down in full force. However this infection of dark coldness was starting to spread further than the neighborhood it was circling.

"What the hell is going on out there?!"

"It has to be the ghost magnate house. With the magic square the thing from the book created I'll bet its opened a portal to the afterlife with all kinds of ghosts spewing out of it. Ghosts tend to make their surroundings colder. Well try and imagine that times a thousand. It's no wonder the weather has regressed back to winter." Lina explained.

"Can a ghost really do that...?"

"I'd say so." Lina looked to Zangulus with a look of impatience. "Well are you doing to drive or are we going to just sit around here and do nothing all day?!"

"The car almost flipped over!" Zangulus protested.

"So?! We still need to get to that house Zangulus! You should have never offered to drive us if you weren't willing to take risks. Now get moving! We need to get to that house as soon as possible!"

...

Naga hadn't driven her own car to Ghost Slayers HQ to start off with. Sylphiel had been the one that picked her, Val and Amelia up and brought them there. So as such Naga had no wheels of her own to drive to the ghost magnate house. Of course Naga wasn't one to shy away from 'borrowing' things that didn't belong to her.

There were three sets of keys available for Naga to take. Rather than take all three and deciding which car she wanted when she got to the parking lot Naga opted for only one set. She knew once she saw the iconic symbol on the key chain of one of the sets of keys that that was the one.

The car in question was of course Xellos' sleek black jaguar. Naga had no idea what colour the car was when she saw the keys so it was a delightful surprise to see that it was black.

Naga had scoffed at the licence plate but otherwise the car suited her needs just nicely. It purred for her when she turned the keys in the ignition and roared when she put it in drive.

Slimer know normally didn't leave the comforts of the Ghost Slayers HQ decided for once to tag along. The gooey green ghost got all kinds of goop all over the interior of Xellos' car but Naga didn't care. It wasn't her car anyway so would she care if it got messy? As long as Slimer kept his slime away from her then Naga was fine with her little green co-pilot.

With all the craziness going on the roads were a mess with all kinds of traffic and strange weather spots. It should make one want to drive more cautiously so as to avoid getting into a needless car accident. However when you were Naga the White Serpent diving a luxuriously fast and sleek jaguar driving slowly and cautiously was out of the question.

Naga took each turn dangerously fast and weaved in and out of traffic. She wasn't going to be held back by Sunday drivers. Naga even let out crazy laugh as she almost hit a car. Something about the rush she got when she tempted death just made her all tingly inside. She just loved it.

Slimer on the other hand wasn't quite so pleased. The little green ghost held onto his seat terrified for his life. Strange as Slimer was already dead but still that didn't matter as the green thing was still frightened.

"WEEEEEEE!" Naga giggled as she took another turn far too sharply. "This car is much nicer tan that crap car I got as a loner." Within her first week back in Sailune Naga had crashed her car. This was not a rare occurrence when it came to the Mayor's eldest daughter. In fact if it weren't for the fact that she was Philonel's daughter they might have taken away her licence all together. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Are you having as much fun as I am Slimer?"

Slimer shook his head nervously while frightfully closing his eyes. He was never going to leave Ghost Slayers HQ ever again!

...

"Damn I wish I had brought my jacket..." Lina mumbled to herself and Zangulus drove up to the street where the ghost magnate house was. It was snowing down harder than Lina had ever seen. The snow was the pleasant light fluffy variety that brought up happy memories of white Christmases but the cold unrelenting kind that came with razor sharp icy winds.

"Forget the jacket. On its own it still wouldn't be enough. Try thermal underwear, wool socks, gloves, fleece lined boots and a toque. That with the jacket maybe just maybe we'd be warm." Filia added.

"Girls I'm sorry I'm not going to be able to get any closer to the house. The weather is just too wicked." Zangulus apologized while putting the car into park.

"But I don't want to walk the rest of the way! It's cold!" Lina whined. She was used to warmer climates so Lina never did well in the cold.

"C'mon Miss Lina! We need to press on in the name of truth and justice! For if we don't persevere on our mission will never be completed and all of Sailune and possibly the world will fall into devastation!" Amelia declared pointing her finger up into the air. Or rather to the ceiling of Zangulus car. Sadly the youngest Sailune daughter couldn't get the impact she wanted while still being inside the vehicle. She could have gotten outside and stood on top of the car but the gesture would be moot as Lina would be loathe to get out of the car herself to hear Amelia anyway.

"Think of the others Miss Lina!" Sylphiel pleaded. "Gourry, Mister Xellos, Amelia's father, Mister Zelgadis... How are we to save any of them hiding away in the car?"

"Shut up both of you!" Lina growled. "I was going to get out of the damned car regardless!"

"Then why did you have to whine for?" Filia wondered with a quizzical yet judgemental eyebrow raised.

"Well maybe I just needed to whine to work myself up into going outside!" Lina snapped.

"Wouldn't that make you less likely to want to go outside?"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Lina screamed. "Now let's go!"

Outside the comfortable confines of Zangulus' car the environment was not a happy place. It took only seconds for Lina and company to be shivering uncontrollably. All four of them zipped up their jumpsuits all the way and donned their gloves. Usually they only wore those gloves when they were handling one of their containment boxes but in this case they were pretty handy. At the very least they could hold onto their ray guns without their fingers freezing off.

Sitting in the car Lina and company didn't see the other things flying around the air with the falling snow. It had been too hard to see them with all the snow falling on the windows. But now that they were outside they saw something that was far more frightening than freakish storm. In the air circling around in a vortex above the cursed house was thousands of spirits. The ones that the Ghost Slayers could see looked tortured and angry. Like they were stuck flying around in circles just waiting to get free.

"Is that a ghost tornado...?" Filia wondered looked up in complete horror.

Lina only deftly nodded. All four of them were just too stunned to move all they could do was stand there and look up at the horror. If whatever it was that had been trapped in the book wasn't planning on absorbing all these ghosts then Lina and company might be stuck dealing with all these ghosts. Suddenly their four ray guns and their few containment boxes just didn't seem to be enough. This was far more than Lina had ever faced times a million. This was really bad. The hope was if they dealt with the demonic spirit then all the ghosts would be sucked back into where they were coming from.

Even as they stood there more ghosts appeared and joined the swirling vortex of disembodied spirits. There was no telling just how many ghosts there were and just how many would come. It was getting clearer and clearer that they needed to stop this demonic thing quickly. This could very well be the end of the world.

Standing right in front the ghost magnate house and right in the middle of all the chaos was possessed form of Mayor Philonel Sailune staring right at them. This was not the normally burly and jolly man they all knew. No this man looked frightening like he could crush you with his one of his hands.

Lina swallowed nervously. In one hand she held her ray gun, in the other she had the book. Despite the fact that the gun was made of metal and quite heavy to hold in one hand it seemed to be miles lighter than the burden of the previously red stained pages of the book.


	61. Chapter 61

_Author's Notes: Well we've finally come to it, the end. This has been a long time coming. I have you all have enjoyed reading this fanfic as much as I have writing it. _

**Ghost Slayers**

Chapter Sixty-one

By Relm

"Daddy!" Amelia cried out once she caught sight of Mayor Philonel Sailune.

"Amelia that's not your father anymore." Lina spoke solemnly to her youngest employee. Though she hadn't said this before to Amelia Lina was worried about what this demonic entity was doing to Philonel. It was possible that it was just possessing Amelia's father and keeping his mind captive while it ran the show. Lina didn't deal with possessions as a rule as her methods of dealing with ghosts had her firing it with her ray gun. Firing it on people could be extremely dangerous depending on the power level. Usually if Lina worked a possession case it was in tandem with a priest performing an exorcism. The priest got the spirit out and Lina trapped it in a box. These sorts of jobs were the rarest ones of all for Lina. She had only done two in fact and they had been very dangerous experiences.

Though Lina could have called up a priest to help she knew it wouldn't be of any help. This demon was far too strong for the words of the lord. She would need a whole army of priests and Exorcisms took time that they didn't appear to have. The only chance they had was their ray guns but Lina had no idea what effect it would have on Philonel. It could end up killing him.

The other and more disturbing thought was that Philonel wasn't even alive anymore. It could have been once the creature took hold and possessed his body it killed him in the process. They could be just looking at a carcass that the demon was wearing like a suit. If that was the case it didn't matter if they got the entity out of him because Mayor Philonel Sailune would already be dead.

Though these disturbing thoughts were flying around through Lina's head the Ghost Slayer leader held her tongue. 'We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. At the very least we can't let some evil creature run amuck wearing Amelia's dad's face.' Lina thought to herself.

It was almost as if the creature knew what Lina was thinking as at that moment it used Philonel's face to smile a most sinister grin. It rose up Philonel's arms into the air and a loud cracking noise snapped into the cold air. A rumble followed as the ground shook under them.

The source of the crack make its self known as it grew from under the house to the road in front of it and under Philonel's feet. The crack stopped just a few steps from Lina and company giving them full view of the hell that was bursting out from Earth's seams. The crack wasn't wide but it was very deep looking as though it went all the way down the center of the earth.

For such a crack to form one might assume it was due to volcanic type activity and expect to see plumes of steam and possibly lava bubbling to the surface. Lina and company saw neither. Things did rise up the sky like steam but it wasn't gas that took to the sky. More spirits rose from the cracks all moaning in agony. They joined the souls trapped in the flying vortex in the skies above them. There was no molten red threatening to bubble up to the surface from the crack but cold empty darkness.

"What the hell is that?!" Filia exclaimed with wide eyes at the sight before us.

"It's a hellmouth." Lina explained. "The demon is trying to open a hellmouth."

"Trying? You mean it's not open already?" Sylphiel wondered through chattering teeth.

Lina shook her head. "No. Once the crack reaches corner to corner of the mouth it will open leaving a large circle of death."

"How big is that?"

"I have no idea. It could already be the width it will be or it could end up swallowing all of Sailune whole." Lina explained with the most somber of expressions.

Though this crack was large and seemed to go down to the very center of the planet Lina knew this wasn't a physical crack. It's appearance of a crack in the concrete was only their mind's way of trying to process what was before them in an image they could understand. In truth there was no real crack before them. It appeared wide enough for a person to fall down through it. But if a man were to step on the space where the crack was his feet would touch ground not fall into air. This crack was only a spiritual one, a passageway for tortured souls to escape from. Even still if the hellmouth opened and it was as large as Sailune the city would be consumed by the cold dark evil energy killing everything.

"What are we going to do?!" Amelia cried out in horror.

"The same thing we were going to do in the first place. Slay that demon." Lina stated while arming her gun and aiming it at the possessed body of Mayor Sailune Philonel. Since we she knew she would need two hands for this job Lina placed the book on the ground a few feet in front of them with its' pages open. The wind violently nipped at the white sheets but no paper was torn free and the book remained opened.

The demon beast Philonel hollowed at the sight of the book. His voice wasn't even recognizable as human. It cursed at Lina but her and the others had no idea what the creature was saying. Fortunately they didn't need to know as the message was very clear. The creature was frightened and angered by the book. It wasn't about to be trapped inside it again. It used Philonel's eyes to glare a murderous red at Lina.

In a staring contest with any ghost Lina would usually just smirk her trademark smirk and just shoot the thing. Because Lina knew how to handle ghosts, they didn't scare her. But this thing did. She couldn't summon that smirk no more than she could will her body from shaking in fear and cold. This was going to be a blind fight and Lina hated those kinds most of all. "On three everyone fire on the demon! We're going to try and force him back into the book just like one of our containment boxes. One-"

"But Mayor Sailune! Won't that hurt him?" Sylphiel protested.

"It can't be helped Miss Sylphiel." Amelia gritted her teeth. "My father would never want some evil thing running amuck hurting people for the sake of his own life. Especially if that evil thing was using his own body to do it. It would destroy him. This is what he would want."

"Okay, on three, one, two, three!"

All four Ghost Slayers took aim and fired on Mayor Philonel Sailune. The creature possessing the mayor howled once more as if it was in immense pain but then the howling turned into haunting howling laughter.

"It's not working!" Filia said through gritted teeth.

With a wave of his hand the demon sent three ghosts flying at Lina and company.

Shocked by this sudden action Amelia and Sylphiel flinched taking their hands off their triggers. Lina and Filia were not deterred and they kept their guns firing on the beast.

"It's trying to distract us! Keep your eyes on the demon. Ignore the rest! If your power isn't already maxed out then dial it up!" Lina yelled. "If it's not hurting it then it wouldn't try and get us to stop firing."

"But Lina if we keep firing at max the batteries are going to end up giving out! We can't keep this up for too long!" Filia yelled.

The demon threw more ghosts at the Ghost Slayers and they moaned and screamed as they flew past.

"Damn... I should have brought that spare gun..." Lina muttered to herself. The situation seemed to be hopeless. She was freezing already and all the ghosts flying around and through her was just making it worse. And she knew that the cold air was depleting the battery power further. Even though she was wearing her gloves she could feel the coldness creeping through her fingertips. Soon it wasn't going to matter if the battery was going to die, her fingers are going to be too numb to hold onto her gun.

In all the chaos that surrounded the Ghost Slayers and the demon beast they were fighting there were choruses of deafening sounds. Moaning ghosts, whirling winds, crashing thunder, electric buzz of the ray guns, howling laughter... It was hard to hear anything yourself think let alone anything else. So it was safe to say that the demon creature and the Ghost Slayers didn't hear the sound of the reckless driver speeding towards them. It wasn't until that very same speeding car was almost on top of them that Lina and company noticed the sleek black jaguar bearing the licence plate name FILIA.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOH! How dare you start the party without Naga the White Serpent!" Naga boomed out loud as she got out of the car. Toting an armed ray gun and a Ghost Slayers jumpsuit Naga looked ready for action and not affected one bit by the cold. Her busty bosom bounced with each step.

A very timid and pale Slimer emerged from the car behind Naga. If he wasn't green to start off with you might think he was going to be sick. He was actually close to it so that was just a coincidence.

In any other ordinary circumstances Lina would have cringed at the sight of the big chested bimbo that was Amelia's older sister. But for once in her life Naga was actually going to be useful. "Do you have any idea how to use that gun?"

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Of course I do! Turn the dial and click the trigger button!"

"Okay get over here and help us!"

The demon looked surprised at the sudden additions to the 'party' but it didn't seem all that worried. With another wave of its hand it tried to use it's control over ghosts to make Slimer crash into the Ghost Slayers like all the other ghosts. However it soon discovered that it wasn't possible to control a being such as Slimer.

Slimer looked at the demon with curiosity not knowing what to make of the creature that looked like the Mayor of Sailune. The curiosity quickly turned into fear and Slimer flew and hid behind Amelia.

Naga ignored Slimer's antics and aimed at her father. She should have been disturbed at least a little bit of the notion of firing on her father but strangely she wasn't. Naga did love her father but who didn't want to shoot their family members with an electric shock every now and then? The only thing that was going through Naga's mind was about how sexy she looked all geared up and ready to fire. She was sure she was the best looking of the bunch given her height, figure and long hair. Why the others had their jumpsuits zipped up all the way! Not Naga, no her's was zipped down as low as possible.

Yes Naga felt cool as she fired that gun...

...but she didn't expect the kickback and she fell straight backwards on her ass.

"Oh for god sake! Get up you idiot!" Lina yelled. "Stupid bimbo..." She added muttering.

"OHOHOHOHOH! It packs a bigger punch then I thought!" Naga got up and fired again, this time bracing for the kickback.

As soon as Naga's beam joined the others it seemed like they just might do it. Demon Phil yelled out in agony while flailing about. But even with all that they still couldn't manage to do anything but stun the beast.

"Lina it's still not working!" Filia exclaimed.

Lina frowned in frustration. She didn't know what else to do. The ground under them rumbled once more and the crack widened. "Damn it's starting to open the hellmouth!"

Amelia looked over her shoulder at Slimer whom was still cowering behind her. "Slimer do something! We need help!" She pleaded.

Slimer looked over at the creature they were fighting and shivered. He couldn't ever turn down a plea for help from Amelia but he didn't want to go near that thing. It looked like it would eat him if he got anywhere near it. The only thing Slimer could think of doing was throwing something at it. And when it doubt, goo it out. And a nice big ball of goo it was that went air born and hit demon Phil right in the face. It was a satisfying splat that was soon joined by others as Slimer began a barrage of projectile goo.

Demon Phil was completely disgusted by the goo on its face that it threw off that thin thread of control it had on the body it inhabited.

"It's working!" Lina cried out. "Keep firing!"

Demon Phil screamed as it was separated from the body it so coveted. The creature that emerged from the body of Mayor Philonel Sailune was large black and red with horns, razor sharp teeth, claws and spikes that protruded out from its back. Its eyes were a menacing black where it should be coloured and red where it should be white. It desperately tried to claw its way back into Phil's body but it was too late. The demon was being ripped out by the combined electrical energy of the Ghost Slayers' ray guns. In retribution the demon made the ground shake more and the skies rain ghosts.

The wind nipped at them like shards of glass but still the Ghost Slayers held on. This one was going to be laid to rest even if it killed them doing it.

"Hold on we've almost got it!" Lina urged her team on. The demon was now out of Philonel and desperately trying to break free of the beams. It fought hard making it seem like the ray guns were actually ropes that the demon was pulling on. Each sudden movement made each of the Ghost Slayers lurch forward as they struggled to hold on.

This tug a war battle seemed like it was lasting for hours but in reality it was only minutes but it was taking a toll on all of them. Each inch they gained felt like it took a mile. But they were making it, a just a few more feet and the demon would be back in the book.

_Beep Beep! Beep Beep! _ The most annoying sound in the world sounded at that triumphant moment. It was followed by a chorus of other beeps as all the guns started to run out of power. Naga's was the only one that refused to sound but it didn't matter, if all the guns but hers shut off it wouldn't be enough to keep the demon at bay.

"No no no! Not now!" Lina pleaded. "Just let us have a little bit more time!"

In the other side of Sailune where things were warm and sunny a strange sight came into view. The storm of the century that was forming above that residential area in the middle of Sailune exploded in a plume of red light. To the scared onlookers they assumed this had been the bomb they had been hearing about and it finally blew.

"Can anyone see?" Lina called out coughing. They just got the demon back into the book right before the scanners died out. The area exploded in a flash of bright red light that was almost blinding. As the light died down a thick hazy fog settled in the area while the cold started to dissipate.

Above the sky was no longer a sea of dark clouds and moaning spirits. The cyclone of the undead had been freed from their circular torment. Many had been sucked down into the crack on the ground which appeared to be normal concrete once more. The rest of the ghosts ran free to wreak their own brand of havoc. It was something Lina should have been concerned with but for now she was just content that the city wasn't going to be destroyed today.

"Daddy!" Amelia cried out as she ran to the laying form of Mayor Philonel Sailune. He was laying on his back and didn't appear to be moving. But hearing Amelia's voice caused the burly man to stir.

"Amelia?" He said weakly. "What happened?"

Amelia didn't answer her father she just hugged him tightly.

Naga was about to run to her father's arms as well until she caught sight of a sight she had been fighting to see. A nearly naked aqua hared man wearing just a towel. "Val!" Naga ran to him and showered him with kisses.

"Where am I? Why am I just wearing a damned towel?!" Val growled in anger.

"OHOHOHOHOH! I love it when you growl! And if I had it my way you'd always just be wearing a towel." Naga purred at him.

"Ahem! Gracia who is this man?" Mayor Philonel Sailune questioned his eldest daughter while getting to his feet. His fatigue forgotten as his protective father instincts started to kick in.

"This is mine." Naga exclaimed proudly.

"Excuse me I have a name! I am not your property!" Val protested in anger.

A rogue gust of wind blew that towel Val had around his waist off leaving the aqua hared man completely nude in front of his girlfriend's father.

"He's actually a professor at the university Daddy." Amelia explained while laughing nervously.

"What's going on? Why is that guy naked?" A very confused Gourry wondered as he walked around in a daze.

"Gourry!" Sylphiel cried out with tears streaming down her face. She ran to him and jumped into his arms estatic that he was a solid person she could touch and feel.

"Sylphiel what's wrong? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" Gourry wondered with deep concern furrowing his brow.

Sylphiel just smiled at him and did something she would have never thought herself doing. She kissed him.

Seeing Philonel, Val and Gourry being okay Filia couldn't help but search the fog for Xellos. It wasn't like she was worried about him or anything. But if he was alive and solid she could finally hit like she had been so wanting to for the past few days.

"Looking for me?" Xellos purred into Filia's ear.

Filia spun around with a blush furiously glowing on her face. "No!"

"Oh come on looks like we survived a disaster and everyone is getting so cozy. How about you show me how much you're happy to see me?" Xellos dared her while puckering his lips.

Filia smirked and then punched him square in the jaw.

"Ow! Typical Filia. But that's okay I do like it rough." Xellos pulled Filia toward him and kissed her...

... on the forehead before running off.

"Hey! That wasn't a real kiss!" Filia protested.

"Well if you want a kiss so bad then you should have kissed me yourself instead of punching!" Xellos stuck his tongue out at her.

Lina whom might have been amused by these public displays was completely preoccupied. While everyone else was found Lina was looking for the one person who all this mess started with, Zelgadis.

He had been the books' first victim. The others appeared to be fine but they had been attacked more recently. Zelgadis had gone months in a spirit like form after he had been attacked. Was there anything left of Zelgadis to come back? Was he dead or alive? Had she failed in saving him when she had promised everything would be okay?

A soft tapping on Lina's shoulder brought her back to reality. She turned around to come face to face with those beautiful sapphire blue eyes she had come to admire. He wasn't see through but solid flesh. His soft lavender hair moved slightly with the occasional passing breeze.

"Zel..." Lina whispered not believing her eyes. He was alive! HE WAS ALIVE! Lina was a whirlwind of emotion at that moment. She was happy! So very happy! She couldn't help herself, she kissed him.

Gourry had been confused when Sylphiel had kissed him. Happy but confused. And although Zelgadis found the kiss to be a pleasant experience he was far more confused than the blond officer. "Umm... I'm sorry... you're very pretty but... who are you?"

Lina let out a roaring laugh. "Of course he doesn't remember... You met him after his soul got ripped out of his body." Lina chuckled to herself. "Hi, I'm Lina Inverse. And I just saved your ass."

"Oh. Thanks? I'm Zelgadis Greywars by the way."

"Yes Zel I know."

"Zel? My name is Zelgadis." He corrected her.

"And I call you Zel. That's what you let me call you." Lina said with a smirk.

"What I let you? Okay I get the feeling like I've missed a lot here. Would you mind explaining exactly what the hell is going on here?"

Lina laughed again. "The Ghost Slayers have saved the day again and their fearless leader is hungry. Let's get some food and I'll explain everything." She grabbed him by the hand and tugged him along with her.

Zelgadis was still confused but he went a long with her. He got the feeling that even though things seemed weird they were going to make sense to him. That is until Slimer said hello and Zelgadis ran away screaming.

Poor Slimer just wants to have friends.

The End of Book One.

_Author's Notes: Yes I'm doing the same thing as Ruins Raiders. I don't know when I'll start Book Two of Ghost Slayers but it's come down on the horizon. This is part of the reason why I chose to do a more lighthearted ending. So I hope I didn't disappoint anyone. Thanks for reading!_


End file.
